Marriage of Convenience
by Sweet Little Darling
Summary: AU/AH. Delena. "If you want a baby so badly, why don't you have a baby with me?" Elena Gilbert wants a baby. Damon Salvatore needs a baby. Somehow they will both get what they want in this marriage of convenience.
1. Prologue

_Marriage of Convenience_

PROLOUGE

For as long as Elena Gilbert could remember what she had most wanted to be since she had been a little girl was to be a mother. She would play with her stuffed dolls when she was a child and sing lullaby's, when she got older she would play pretend teacher and housewife, and by the time she was in high school and captain of the cheerleading squad she had already had the baby names picked out for her five children that she planned to have.

All that Elena Gilbert wanted in life was to be a mother, but like always it seemed that the universe had other plans for her and things never seemed to work out for her. She entered high school with grand hopes that she would meet the love of her life and get married after graduation, but high school went by without any kiss and not even a sweaty hand shake.

"You're not ugly, Elena," her best friends Caroline Forbes and Bonnie told her. "A lot of guys think you're cute. You just need to slow down a little, we're juniors. No one wants to settle down at sixteen. You will find your prince charming, just maybe not in high school."

Still Elena craved for her so called prince, she watched as Bonnie and Caroline had new boyfriends and if they were buying new underwear, while Elena stood at the sidelines pretending to be happy for them while secretly feeling heartbroken.

She graduated with honors at the top of her class and as valedictorian. Her many friends signed her yearbooks and Matt Donovan her longtime crush gave her a kiss on the cheek. Elena got a full ride to Whitmore college on a cheerleading scholarship, but she turned it down.

"Why?" Miranda Gilbert had cried out. "Why would you turn down a scholarship for Whitmore? That's where your father went. You know college is expensive, Elena why would you throw away an opportunity like this?"

"I just don't want to go to college, Mama." Elena told her wishing that she could curl herself in a small ball and avoid the question all together. She didn't know how she could tell her mother that she had no desire to go to college. She didn't want to be stuck in a classroom for four more years being taught things that she didn't care about. She didn't want to be a theater major like Caroline or a doctor like Bonnie.

She just wanted to find a husband, get married, have a nice, happy house, and have a baby. Her only interest seems to be blogging, photography, and cheerleading.

Her father, Grayson had been less than understanding, "Dammit, Elena," he had murmured. "Don't you have any ambition in life? Just what are you going to do, we won't be able to support you forever."

"I know, Daddy," Elena squeaked. "I'm sorry that you're upset, but college won't make me happy, and I can't stand being unhappy."

"There are more important things in life than to be happy, Elena," Grayson said with gritted teeth. "And eventually you must understand that. I pray that you don't find out too late."

* * *

 _Four Years Later-Present Time_

Twenty-Two-year-old Elena Gilbert stared at the clock. 8:02 AM time was going by so slowly and like usual, mornings were often slow in Salvatore Attorney Office. Elena had, had a few odd jobs since her high school graduation mainly fast food worker, working in shops, and being a waitress. She had finally landed the job of receptionist thanks to Caroline Forbes.

The bubbly blond had told Elena that her ex-boyfriend Stefan Salvatore and his brother Damon needed a new receptionist for their law firm. Thanks to Caroline Stefan had hired her on the spot and hardly even bothered with an interview.

Caroline had successfully graduated as a theater major and now successfully worked running the small children's theater downtown and she loved every minute of it. Bonnie was now at Yale medical school and Elena's heart ached for her friend. She missed her, but she knew that Bonnie was happy and following her dream and that was all that mattered.

Elena was grateful she really was, but she was kind of bored to be honest. Working in a law firm was boring, but the money was decent and she could afford her tiny, little apartment. Besides her bosses were nice, well Stefan was nice. Damon, however was another story.

Elena's lip curled when she thought of the older Salvatore. Damon Salvatore wasn't exactly mean to her exactly, but he was kind of hot and cold with her. She had been working at the law firm for exactly six months and he never called her by her name. He only called her, "Brunette" or "hey" and he either ignored her or made disturbing, flirty comments. But as far as bosses went he wasn't that bad.

Heck, Elena would rather be ignored than deal with an arrogant boss. Besides Damon wasn't even there half of the time. He was always out on "lunch dates" with important "clients." As if Elena was an idiot who didn't see the handful of women that always left his office barely dressed and in tight clothes.

Rumors were that the Salvatore brothers were wealthy and that they had a lot of family money. Apparently, their father, Giuseppe had been a celebrity lawyer or a business man or something like that.

Though even if they were they didn't act like it. Even though both Salvatore brothers wore nice suits and had been educated at Harvard Law School other than that they didn't scream rich. They both drove classic cars and Elena had seen them in jeans and black shirts.

Elena sighed again neither Stefan nor Damon were in yet and the phone hadn't rung once all morning. They had informed Elena that they had a breakfast meeting with their mother, Lily Salvatore, CEO of Salvatore Wedding Emporium which specialize in wedding dresses; and that they wouldn't be back until lunch.

Her phone beeped. It was a text from her mother. Lovely. She had been getting those from her mother lately all of them pertaining to the question-what do you want to do with your life?

 **Miranda:** Hi, Sweetie! Hope you have a good day at work today. Daddy and I want to talk to you. Can you come over for dinner on Sunday? Kisses, mom.

Elena sighed. She had canceled six times already. She knew that her mom wouldn't let it go and that she would find her at her job if necessary.

She wrote back:

 **Elena:** Sunday is perfect mom. I'll bring dessert.

Elena leaned back in her chair and noticed it was only Monday. She was already dreading Sunday.

-End of Prologue-

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	2. PART ONE

**PART ONE**

Damon Salvatore looked at his watch with impatience. Lily Salvatore was late again, which wasn't surprising if he was being completely honest, his mother after all was CEO of a large wedding dress emporium with over 5,500 shops all over the United States. Still, his time was precious and he didn't fancy being kept waiting with his brother, Stefan who he saw every day.

A man had to have some options.

"If she's not here in five minutes, I'm leaving." Damon quipped to his younger brother.

Stefan ever the good son narrowed his brows. "Damon, she's only ten minutes late."

Damon snorted. "Ten, try forty-five. As if I didn't have better things to do- "

"Calm yourself, Damon," Lily Salvatore interrupted his rampage as she surprised him by coming behind him. At one time Lily Salvatore, had been a beautiful woman, but the death of her husband and managing her own company had quickly tired her out. Although she was still beautiful she looked older beyond her years. "I'm here now how about we sit down and have a nice lunch."

The three Salvatore's quickly ordered and Lily straighten her skirt. "Well, this is nice. It's been a while since all of us have had lunch together."

Damon smirked and Stefan broke the awkward silence. Both knew too well that Lily didn't bother contacting them unless it was something major or if it was the holidays. Since it was the middle of March, they thought that the first option was closest. "What is going on mother?"

Lily bit her lip. "Mr. Andrews, the family lawyer. You remember him right dears? Well he finished sorting out your father's will, he made a mess of the whole thing and of course poor Mr. Andrews finally finished setting up the will."

Mr. Andrews was the short, nervous little man that had overseen Giuseppe Salvatore's will. Even since their father had died three months ago, from a heart attack the will had stayed in a sort of limbo state while Mr. Andrews tried to fix all the mistakes that Giuseppe had made. He wasn't exactly known for being tidy and kept everything in check. Damon had begun to think that Mr. Andrews would never finish the stupid will.

"Damon," Lily said. "Things in the will, they are complicated. . .they are quite unusual. We weren't expecting."

Damon gritted his teeth. He knew where this was going, the cheap bastard hadn't left him anything. He had always hated Damon's guts not caring that he was his oldest son. When he had died unexpectedly Damon and he had been in a fight and although Damon was sorry that his father had died before they could make up, he wasn't exactly sad. Besides his father had always preferred Stefan.

Stefan, Damon looked at his younger brother. It wouldn't surprise him in the least if Mr. Salvatore had left his wealth to Stefan. Precious baby bro had always been everyone's favorite.

"What is it, mother?" Stefan ever the good son said.

Lily seemed grateful that someone at last had spoken. "Perhaps we should discuss it- "

"We will discuss it now." Damon said through gritted teeth.

Lily shook her head. "All right, Damon no need to make such a fuss. Stefan, your father has left you his house in France and your trust fund of course, you need to see Mr. Andrews in the morning to get everything squared away. Damon as his eldest son, you too get your trust fund and the houses in the Hamptons and Connecticut. But for you, um, you father requested a usual. . .detail. You must do something before you receive your inheritance."

* * *

Elena twisted the necklace around her neck nervously. She felt chilly in the paper robe that was one of the nurses had given her. She looked at the clock and noticed that she had exactly four minutes until her lunch hour ended and she still hadn't spoken with the doctor.

Elena was currently at the Milani Clinic where they specialized in insemination and fertility treatments. Elena had come in to see if she would be a good candidate for insemination. She knew her parents would freak when they found out that Elena was having a "test tube" baby with no father in the picture. But this is what Elena wanted. Besides she had a decent job and she would start saving up for the baby.

All Elena knew was that she wanted this, badly. Dr. Winston came in and greeted her, "Miss Gilbert, sorry for the long wait, we were just getting the results of your tests."

Elena gulped. "And?"

"You the perfect candidate for insemination," Dr. Winston said. "You're young, healthy, and fertile. Everything came back perfect. Now all you have to do is set a date and pick a donor. Rachel at the front desk will give you some papers on information of possible donors such a hair color, health issues, etc. so you can pick who you want, to be the father of your baby."

Elena nodded. "What about cost?"

"Each insemination will cost around $400," Dr. Winston said. "Per try. You might need to try it three or four times. Women rarely get pregnant the first time, but I've seen young women around your age get pregnant on the second or third time."

Elena nodded. Dr. Winston patted her shoulder. "Elena, it's ok to be scared, you don't have to decided right now. You're still young, you could fall in love- "

"No, please Dr. Winston," Elena said, "I want to do this. I just need to get the money."

Dr. Winston nodded. "All right, give me a call when you have decided."

* * *

"A baby!" Damon nearly shouted as he slapped the sides of the wheel of the car. Stefan sat next to him in a quiet, obnoxious way. But Damon was secretly glad that his brother was there so that he could complain to someone. "Where am, I supposed to get a baby?"

Apparently, the condition that Mr. Salvatore had set for Damon to get his inheritance was that Damon was supposed to have a baby in three years. If he did not, he would lose his inheritance and it had to be a legitimate child. So, he couldn't just adopt a baby or get a random girl pregnant.

Apparently, the eldest Salvatore thought Damon's partying ways would mean that he would never get settled and he wouldn't continue the Salvatore family name. "Is that even legal?"

Stefan nodded. "It's not hurting anyone or causing harm to the general population. Besides is his money, he can do what he wants with it."

He threw him a dirty look. "And why didn't he demand that you also get someone pregnant?"

"Maybe because I'm not fucking everything that has high heels," Stefan snapped. "Besides Damon you have three years, that's plenty of time. Besides you have plenty experience in making babies."

"Little bro, the brat that I have is supposed to be legitimate," Damon laughed darkly. "Which means I need to marry the brat's mother."

"Maybe you will meet someone nice," he said dryly.

"Yeah, maybe."

-End of Chapter One-

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	3. PART TWO

**PART TWO**

Elena was over half an hour late from the time that she was supposed to be in the office and she could feel her feet sweating in her high heels. She knew deep down that she had no reason to freak out. After all she had never been late before, but still nevertheless she was still a bit freaked out when it came to breaking the rules.

The taxi finally stopped in front of the office and Elena gave a quick prayer of thanks that Mystic Falls was such a small town that there was hardly any traffic. She gave a few bills to the driver and got out of the car.

She had been sure that Damon and Stefan wouldn't be there yet, since their lunches with Lily usually took long. Her heart sank slightly when she saw the two brothers. Damon looked upset and it had been obvious that he had been arguing with Stefan.

Both turned to look at her and Elena felt her cheeks flushed. "Where have you been?" Damon finally demanded a slight tone of disgust in his voice. "You should have been here half an hour ago,"

Elena wasn't used to Damon using that type of tone with her. He usually just send her to fetch coffee or he ignored her attempts at a weak good morning. But he had never seen him so annoyed at her. "I'm sorry, something came up- "

Damon didn't bother hearing the rest of explanation, he just stormed into his office. Elena felt red all over. "I really am sorry. My appointment ran late, Stefan. I swear it won't happen again and you can dock my pay."

"Don't be silly, Elena," Stefan said warmly. "It has never happened before and you are responsible. Ignore my brother and I apologize for him. He received some news today that was unsettling and he's been in a bad mood, but he shouldn't take it out on you. How was your appointment?"

Elena nodded and smiled. "It was fine. Thank you for asking." They exchanged a few more pleasantries concerning the weather, before each of them went to their respective desks.

* * *

Damon did apologize eventually the next morning, but Elena had a feeling that he had only apologized because Stefan had forced him to apologize. But it didn't matter, Elena just wanted to move beyond that and she had accepted his weak apology and both had moved on with their lives.

Though Elena wasn't blind, she knew that something was up. Damon was even in a fouler mood than usual and he kept himself locked in his office talking to who knows who. Elena hadn't even seen much of his lady friends making an appearance in the office and she was glad of that at least.

Elena relaxed her shoulder as she packed up the office, glad that it was Friday and that she had the whole weekend to relax. Though to be honest she wasn't exactly looking forward to spending Sunday night dinner with her judgmental parents who didn't approve of her lifestyle, but still had their best interest at heart.

Still, Elena was going meet up with Caroline for drinks so at least her weekend was off to a good start. She grabbed her bag and logged out of her computer before she left the office glad that this dreadful week was over.

Elena had been going over her calculations and saving account and concluded that while she had enough money for an insemination she was going to wait a couple of months more so that she could save a bit of extra money. Especially since it was going to be expensive raising and having a baby by herself.

She calculated that in five or six months she would be on her way to a fertility clinic in order to have her dream of becoming a mother, but all she wanted to focus on right now is ordering drinks with Care and to try and not think about dinner with her parents.

Elena meet Caroline at a new bar called King Neptune. The beautiful blond was already waiting for her there in a skin tight red dress that hugged every curve of her curvy frame. Elena felt underdress in her black skirt and blue blouse.

Elena would be lying if she said she had never been jealous of the blond. She seemed to have everything, a gorgeous body and face, a steady job, and a nice boyfriend named Tyler Lockwood. But she was still one of the nicest people that Elena knew and she had stuck with Elena through thick and thin, "There you are!" she squealed as she hugged her. "I was getting worried."

"Sorry," Elena apologized, "There was traffic."

The two girls ordered dirty martinis and they sat in a small table as they sipped their drinks. Caroline raised an eyebrow. "How did the appointment go?"

"It went fine," Elena said. "It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, I should have everything ready in about six months."

Caroline nodded nervously. "That's great, Elena. Look I don't want to sound judgy, but are you sure you don't want to wait? I mean you're still young and pretty and any man would be lucky to have you."

"Care," Elena interrupted. "I want this. I've been wanting this for a long time."

Caroline softened. "All right then let's celebrate. To future baby Gilbert!"

* * *

There was just no way out of the stupid will. Damon had contacted thirteen lawyers and all had said the same thing their hands were tied, the only way that Damon might get his inheritance without producing a baby would be if doctors found out he was infertile. Otherwise he had three years to get himself saddled with a brat.

The phone from the main office wouldn't stop ringing. Where was Elena? He finally stood up and went to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello, sir this is Hannah from the Milani Clinic," a chirpy voice said. Damon saw that it was almost six in the afternoon. "I'm looking for Miss Gilbert."

"She's not here," he said exhausted. "Can I take a message."

"Please let her know that the doctor wants to find out if she is having her fertility/insemination procedures done in the next month or if she would like to post pone it."

Damon perked up. Fertility procedures? Was Gilbert trying to have a baby? From what he could remember Gilbert wasn't married, perhaps a boyfriend? She was cute in a ditzy kind of way. "Sir?"

"Um, yes I'm her boss don't you have Miss Gilbert's boyfriend or husband's phone number."

"From what Miss Gilbert said she is single. Could you deliver the message or shall I call another time?"

"No, I'll tell her. Thank you."

-End of Chapter Two-

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	4. PART THREE

So apparently, I made a big no no last chapter. I forgot that medical records couldn't be disclose. I'm so sorry, but thanks for letting me know. I'll figure out a way to tie it in to the story. Glad you're enjoying it!

PART THREE

Elena was drunk. She never got drunk, mainly because she was a lousy drunk and unlike Caroline and Bonnie she could barely hold three drinks before the entire room started slipping. Caroline and Elena had gone from the bar to the club. Apparently, the new club was all the rage and they needed to go per Caroline's suggestion.

Elena and Caroline were in the middle of the dance floor, dancing. Their hair flying everywhere as they moved to the rhythm of the music. Elena was glad that it was Friday night, she had a feeling that she was going to wake up to a killer hangover.

Caroline cheered as she raised her glass. "To friends, you better enjoy this while you can, Gilbert. Pretty soon you will be too fat to walk."

"Cheers," Elena clicked her glass against Caroline's. She looked at the tiny clock that was positioned at the end of the bar. Her brown eyes widened. She couldn't believe that it was already midnight, almost one in the morning. "I need to go, Care."

"What?" Caroline squealed. "No, are you crazy? It's still so early. Come on, Elena don't be boring, stay."

Elena laughed. "It's not about being boring. I really need to go, otherwise I'll going to wake up with a killer hangover and believe me I don't enjoy cleaning up vomit. It's even more disgusting in the morning."

Caroline pouted, but she stopped bouncing around. "Fine, let's grab our things and then we can go call an Uber."

* * *

Damon was getting impatient. Where was she? It was almost two in the morning. Where was she? After he had gotten the call from the clueless receptionist he had managed to get Elena's address from Stefan. Damon was just thankful that his brother and Elena were friends and he knew where Elena lived for emergencies.

However, he had been waiting impatiently in his car since seven o'clock. He supposed that he could talk to her at work on Monday, but he was feeling impatient and an impatient Damon was not a good thing.

While waiting for Elena Damon had cooked up the perfect plan. He would convince Elena to marry him, impregnate her, get his inheritance, and then he would find a way to divorce her. Now, he just needed to get Elena to agree which shouldn't be too hard since the girl was obviously desperate for a baby if she was going to a specialized clinic.

Damon looked at his clock again. Where the hell was she?

He finally saw a small red car pull over and Elena came out, her skirt tight around her thighs. She waved goodbye to someone as both girls let out a series of annoying giggles. It was obvious that she was drunk by the way that she was tittering around in her high heels.

Elena was still laughing by herself when she finally noticed that Damon was standing in front of her small apartment complex, not looking pleased at her drunken state. In all honesty, when it came to Elena, Damon had thought that she was mousy and boring. And she had proven him wrong by coming home at nearly two o'clock in the morning obviously drunk. "Elena, where the hell have you've been? I've been waiting-never mind, look I know it's late. But can we talk? It's kind or urgent."

Elena burst into giggles again and Damon pursed his lips. It was obvious that he wasn't going to get anywhere with Elena tonight especially if she was drunk as a skunk. Elena grabbed the handlebars of the apartment building nearly tripping in her high heels. Damon grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her hips to prevent her from falling. "Thank you." She slurred.

Damon tried his best to hide his irritation. "You're drunk."

"As a skunk." Again, with that annoying giggle.

"Obviously." He said. "Come on, Elena let's go home. Come here. . .Elena, home this is your apartment. Apartment. This is the one. Are these your keys?" he asked as he grabbed the keys that were dangling from her purse.

Damon grabbed them and began unlocking the door. Elena pushed back her brown hair. "How do you know where I live?"

"Stefan." He opened the door and let her in, Elena skipped inside. She went towards her small I-pod that connected to the speakers and began playing a song that Damon did not know. "Come on, let's dance."

"No." Damon said. "We need to get you to bed. Did you go drinking alone?"

"No," she giggled. "With Caroline. She's my friend."

Caroline. The name sounded familiar, Damon remember a pretty blond who sometimes came by the office and laughed too loudly. "Where is she?"

"Home. Uber."

"Perfect." Damon said as he led her towards her bedroom. "Here. Bed. Sleepy-time." Elena practically bounced on the bed and Damon caught a brief glance of the red panties that she was wearing.

Damon removed her high heels shoes as Elena settled on the bed, fluffing the pillows, and rubbing the mascara from her eyes. "Are you all right? Are you settled? Do you need anything?"

Elena shook her head. Her eyes were already closing. "I'll see you tomorrow," Damon said as he placed the blankets on top of her, but Elena was already asleep.

* * *

Elena's head was pounding and everything was spinning. Her mouth felt dry and her stomach hurt. She was going to kill Caroline and she swore and promised that she would never drink again. She had the most awful hangover

Elena ran a hand through her greasy hair and pulled down her dress because her entire butt was on display. She rubbed her eyes, Elena had, had a strange dream yesterday. It had been a dream about her jerk of a boss to make it worse. Damon had come to her apartment and helped her into bed.

She shivered. That was all that she remembered, thank god. As if the thought of being anywhere with Damon Salvatore hadn't been creepy enough. Elena went into the kitchen desperate for orange juice.

She grabbed the juice out of the fridge and poured herself a drink. She nearly spit out her drink when she realized that there was a note on the kitchen table. Who had gotten inside her apartment?

Elena picked up the note with a shaky hand.

 _Elena,_

 _I came last night to talk, but thanks to your little friend Caroline you came heavily intoxicated and I thought that bed was the best solution for you. I will come on Saturday evening at six to take you to dinner. We need to talk. Oh, and Bloody Mary's are perfect for hangovers._

 _Best,_

 _Damon Salvatore_

Elena dropped the note limply on the counter. She hadn't dreamed it after all. It had been very real.

-End of Chapter Three-

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	5. PART FOUR

**PART FOUR**

"Elena Gilbert?" Stefan looked at his brother in utter confusion as his brother gave him a smug smile in return as if he had just won the lottery or something. "Elena Gilbert as in our receptionist? You want Elena to be the mother of the child that you have to have?"

Damon took a sip of whisky that the waiter so kindly kept refiling. "Don't sound so surprise brother and I thought you liked Elena. You can never stop saying good things about her."

"I do like Elena," Stefan hesitated. "You don't usually date girls like her. I mean Elena is nice, but she isn't your type. You type is big hair, big boobs, and they have a selfie obsession."

Damon took another sip. "That's right, little brother. That's what makes Elena so perfect. She's a plain Jane. A lady. She's decent looking. Besides I figured if I give her a nice pension she won't put much of a fuss when the baby is born and I ask for a divorce."

Stefan frowned. "I thought the baby would ensure that you would be married forever."

"Correction, Stefan the baby is supposed to be born inside the traditional sense of marriage. After the little Salvatore is born is all fair game. Now what? Stop giving me that pouty face the one that you have been perfecting since fourth grade."

Stefan reddened. "It's not a pouty face, and besides it's a little farfetched don't you think? What makes you so damn sure that Elena will even agree to this? You said so yourself that you found her dead drunk last night. She may be all prim and proper, but that doesn't mean that she wants a commitment."

"Which brings us back to evidence number one." Damon said with a raised eyebrow. "I know for a fact that little miss plain Jane is desperate for a baby."

Stefan scoffed. "And you know this how? This seems a little bit too convenient for my tastes."

Damon shrugged. "Believe what you want little bro, but I know the truth. Yesterday afternoon when Elena was off drinking with Caroline the phone rang back at the office. I picked it up and it turned out that it was some fertility clinic. It turns out that Elena plans to get inseminated. She has baby fever."

"How do you know that? Receptionists aren't supposed to hand out personal information like that."

"Well, the receptionist was new who cares. The important thing is that Elena wants what I want. A baby. Don't you see it, it's a perfect plan."

Stefan looked doubtful. "Damon, in case you're too blind to notice Elena fears you. She barely looks up at you, what makes you think she's desperate enough that she would want to bear your child."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Please, Stefan I am a gentleman. Besides I was planning to pay her and besides it saves me the trouble of wooing a decent woman. I will offer her money, I'll convince her to marry me and bear my child. After our child is born we will quickly divorce and then we will have joint custody of the child."

"How romantic." Stefan said dourly.

Damon looked desperate. "I don't have time to be romantic. I have three years. If Elena doesn't accept to be the mother of my child, I don't know what I will do."

* * *

It was almost six o'clock, Damon would be coming for her soon. Elena had taken a quick shower trying her best to look decent even though she still had a hangover. She had straightened her chocolate brown hair and had applied minimal makeup. She had slipped on a pale blue dress, not sure where Damon was taking her.

She could feel her cheeks flushed in embarrassment even if Damon wasn't here yet. She didn't know what she was going to tell him. She didn't even know how she had acted last night, but since she was a messy, lazy drunk she doubted that the answer was good.

Elena nearly jumped when she heard the doorbell ring. Elena grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. She opened it and saw Damon in his dark suit. He wasn't smiling. "Hi," he cleared his throat. "Are you ready?"

Elena nodded, she bit back her tongue wondering what Damon wanted to talk to her about since when they were at the office he barely said hi to her in the first place. They drove in awkward silence until Damon stopped in front of a small, Italian restaurant and she felt relieved. At least it wasn't anything fancy.

He opened the door for her as the pretty hostess lead them to a table in the back. Elena watched as Damon gave the hostess a handful of bills. He helped her into her chair awkwardly.

After quickly ordering their dinners, Elena played around with the silverware. "So, Mr. Salvatore, what did you want to talk about."

Damon cleared his throat. "Please call me, Damon."

"I rather not," she hesitated. "I would like to apologized for last time about how I acted. I was drunk and if I did anything to offend you- "

"You didn't," Damon gave her a wry smile. "I've been at that end myself. I hope the hangover wasn't that bad."

Elena squinted. "The worse." She shifted. "Mr. Salvatore what did you want to talk to me about."

Damon sat straight up in his chair. "A proposition. Something that will work for both of us and I want you to help me."

Elena looked confused. "But I don't have a business degree, I didn't even go to college."

"That's not important, I don't need your education. I need you." Damon saw that Elena still looked confused. "My father recently passed away and my brother and I were left as his only heirs. He had no idea that he was going to die so the will was a mess. Our lawyer barely managed to tie any loose ends. As the oldest my father wasn't always fond of my lifestyle. To receive my inheritance, I need to do two things. One of them is get married and the second is to get a baby out of that marriage. I have three years to do that."

"That sounds complicated. But I'm sorry I still don't understand what that has to do with me."

"The other day after you left, the phone rang. It was from a fertility clinic near here, they wanted to know if you were planning on inseminating yourself anytime soon."

Elena flushed. "They weren't supposed to give out that information."

Damon shrugged. "Mistakes happened, which brings up my next point. I have a proposition for you. The solution is simple, I want a baby, you want a baby. We have three years. I want us to marry and have a baby. After the baby is born we will quickly divorce and we will each go our own way. You will be heavily rewarded of course, what do you say?"

To say that Elena was full of disgust was an understatement. She gripped her purse. "Are you out your mind? How dare you ask me that, and like that so innocently. No, no! A million times no! Goodbye, Mr. Salvatore."

-End of Chapter Four-

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	6. PART FIVE

**PART FIVE**

How dare he? How dare he?! The same mantra kept going through Elena's head as the taxi dropped her off at her house. She quickly paid the cabbie and entered her apartment. The first thing that she did was removed her makeup that she had so carefully applied only one hour ago.

Elena sighed. Did she look old? She felt old even though she knew that she was quite young, we'll younger than Damon at least. At first, she had been furious that the receptionist had told a stranger her personal information, but then she grew mad at Damon.

He was supposed to be her boss and yet he was suggestion that she should have a baby for him to get his stupid inheritance? She knew that she wasn't having a baby in the traditional way, but that did not mean that she wanted to practically sell her baby to the highest bidder!

Heavily rewarded? Divorce? Elena hated those words and she didn't want to hear them. Besides she didn't want her innocent child to be caught in the Salvatore family mess. Elena tied her hair into a ponytail and crawled into bed. She yawned, she just hoped that she didn't have to get a new job for rejecting Damon's offer.

* * *

Elena twirled with her skirt as she nervously stood in front of her parents' home and waited for her parents to open the door after she had rang the doorbell. She knew that it was stupid to wait. After all she was their daughter she could go in any time she pleased, but still concerning the situation she thought it would be better to knock.

Elena's mother Miranda opened the door a few seconds later. She smiled as she kissed Elena on the cheek. "Elena, dear you look lovely come on in."

Elena stepped in and Miranda continued. "Your father is in the kitchen," she seemed nervous and high strung for some reason. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Wine," Elena said. She had a feeling that she was going to need it. She loved her parents, but lately they had become a tad controlling over her life and were driving her slightly insane. Her father, Grayson was already sitting at the dining room table no doubt waiting for her mother to start serving dinner. He was reading an American Medical journal and looked surprised that Elena had showed up. "Elena, sweetheart how nice of you to join us." He said as he kissed her on the cheek. "Sit, sit your mother almost had dinner ready, right Miranda?"

"Dinner will be ready in a moment," Miranda said brightly. Elena thought that her mother sounded like an overexcited contestant on a game show. In less than fifteen minutes Elena found herself at the dining room table as they passed the basket full of bread back and forth. "Elena, how's work?" her father asked and Elena saw her mother throw him a warning look. Grayson shrugged.

"We went to see Caroline's latest play at that adorable children's theater," Miranda said changing the topic. "Oliver Twist my favorite. Poor Caroline, she must be busy."

"She is," Elena concluded. "But she loves it." She put down her fork. It was now or never. "I'm going to have a baby." Silence.

Miranda looked peaked. "A baby? Are you pregnant?" she said looking at Elena's still flat tummy. "I didn't know you were dating."

"I'm not pregnant yet," Elena said. "I decided to go through the process of artificial insemination. I saved up money and we can start treatments as early as next week."

There was a stunned silence before her father blurted out. "Are you insane?"

"Grayson!" Miranda scolded as she turned to stare at her daughter. "Elena, honey what he means is that- "

"I know exactly what I mean," Grayson snapped as he turned to his only child. "Elena, you are working a minimum wage job, babies are expensive how do you expect to raise one by yourself? Haven't you considered at all that your child should have a father figure in their life?"

"Your father is right," Miranda said gently. "And Elena, sweetheart I know you've always wanted to be a mother, but don't you think that it's better to do it the traditional way, you've never had a boyfriend or even guy friends."

"I know," she flushed. "But it's my decision and I saved money."

"It's not about money," Grayson said. "It's about you thinking solely about yourself and not thinking clearly and not coming up with a plan-"

"Enough," Elena interrupted. "I'm not perfect, I get it. I heard it a thousand times."

"That's not what I meant."

"Save it," she grabbed her purse. "I just wanted to tell you. Thanks for dinner."

* * *

"Here, stop crying," Caroline said as she handed Elena a tissue. The two girls were back at Elena's apartment. "Elena, please stop crying believe me the puffy look is not a good look on anyone even the pretty criers like you."

Elena's smile wobbled as she took the tissue from Caroline. She was glad that her friend had taken time off her busy schedule to come here. "Thanks, and thank you for coming. I know you're busy."

Caroline shook her head. "Nonsense. That's what friends are for especially with Bonnie away."

"I don't even know why I'm crying, I knew that they would react like this. They are never happy with anything that I do. They are overachievers and I'm just plain me."

"Don't say that," Caroline scolded. "You're great. Just give them a chance to get use to the idea. Let's change the subject, what did Damon want? Why the sudden dinner invitation? I thought he couldn't stand you."

"That's what I thought." Elena said. She had forgotten about Damon and his interesting proposal. "It turns out that he is in a bit of a problem. His father died and he let an unusual request in his will. Anyway, he wants me to help him achieve what his father asked him to do to be able to receive his inheritance."

She raised an eyebrow. "Damon? What did he want you to help him with? Come on, Elena spill!" Elena hesitated, but then quickly told her friend everything that had happened including Damon's "proposal." "Oh, my god," Caroline said. "How did you respond?"

"I told him no of course," Elena responded.

Caroline smacked her forehead. "Oh, Elena are you crazy? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Don't you see what you're missing here? Both you and Damon want the same thing, a baby!"

"He wants something to get his stupid inheritance and I want family. How is that the same thing?"

Caroline sighed. "But the outcome is the same, besides it's not like Damon wants you to marry him forever. You will quickly get divorced and you'll have a baby. Besides the Salvatore's' are wealthy Damon will surely give you a nice thank you present for the baby."

She bit her bottom lip. "I don't know it feels wrong."

Caroline snorted. "Face, it, Elena this is the security that you crave and need and in this scenario your baby will have two parents even if one of them is a selfish, arrogant jerk. Call him before Miss America takes your spot."

-End of Chapter Five-

Thanks for your reviews! Sorry that I haven't updated midterms are driving me crazy! Wish me luck.


	7. PART SIX

**PART SIX**

Elena's bra felt tight or maybe it was because she was practically fainting from nervousness. Where was Damon anyway? She had called him and the conversation had been brief. He had simply told her to meet him in a nearby café near the office where they would talk.

Elena checked her watch and saw that Damon was fifteen minutes late. Elena could feel her heart sinking slightly and she thought that she was a complete fool for thinking that Damon would show up. He had a habit of playing with peoples' hearts.

She had just been about to grab her purse when she heard Damon call out. "Hey, hold on I'm here. Sorry I'm late traffic was crazy."

Elena nodded in understatement as she sat back down. Damon noticed her quiet expression and he cleared his throat. "What made you change your mind?"

"I honestly don't know." She replied. "I'm not even sure that I want what I want. I want a baby of course, but maybe my father is right and I having some kind of midlife crisis."

"You're not that old," Damon snorted. "Look, the answer is simple. You want a baby. So, if you want a baby so badly, why don't you have a baby with me?" he wiggled his dark eyebrows. "From where I'm standing it's a win win situation, Elena."

"Perhaps." Elena said, but she didn't elaborate. "Can I ask you something though? You know dozens of girls, girls that are much prettier than me. Why won't you choose them instead of me? Surely they are dying to be your wife."

"I don't trust them," Damon said calmly. "I trust you."

Elena couldn't help but snort. "You don't even know me."

Damon shrugged. "I know enough. I know you're trustworthy and I know you're honest, I may know dozens of girls Miss Gilbert, but I don't want them. I want you."

Elena still didn't look convinced and Damon sighed. Apparently, this was not going to be as easy as he had hoped it would be. "Look, let me just give you a proposition. If you still don't like it, you can bow out, no questions asked and no begging. Would you at least just give me a chance to explain?"

She nodded slowly.

Damon cleared his throat and started explaining quickly and without much delicacy. "We would have to marry quickly and as soon as possible. The baby needs to be born in a legitimate marriage. After the baby is born we can get divorced and we can each live our own lives. I will pay for the wedding of course anything that you may need while you're carrying my child. Things like clothes, housing, food, doctor's appointments- "

Elena blushed. "You don't have to."

"I want too," Damon said firmly. "Besides you are already doing me a big favor by simply carrying my child. Let me do this for you, Elena."

Elena nodded and Damon continued. "After the baby is born we will divorce of course, but we will each regain half custody of the child and I will pay child support. In addition, you will receive the sum of $500,000 after the duration of the agreement. Elena, are you ok? You look confused."

"Not confused, I'm in shock. That's a lot of money."

"Is it?" Damon looked confused.

"Probably not to you," she said slightly sarcastically. "But to us poor, little people it is a lot of money. Isn't this type of agreement kind of illegal?"

"Technically, no," Damon said with a raised eyebrow. "But unless you blabber to anyone about our situation then we shouldn't have a problem. Stefan will issue a private contract between us, just in case anything happens. Now are you in, Elena it's your choice."

Elena didn't say anything for a moment. It just felt to surreal and she couldn't believe how much everything had changed in only a couple of days. She had gone from struggling to have a baby to a family package in less than a month, and $500,000? That was a lot of money, though of course to people like Stefan and Damon it would practically be a handful of pennies.

She would have financial support and her baby would have a father figure in their life even though Damon hadn't exactly been her first choice. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers. "Ok, you have a deal. I accept."

The relief in Damon's face was obvious. "Good, I'm glad. Meet me at the office at our regular time tomorrow so that you can sign the contract. And Elena, not a word to anyone."

Elena nodded and she thought it would probably be wise to keep it to herself that she already told her best friend. "I'll see you tomorrow, Damon."

* * *

When Elena came in the next morning she saw someone else sitting at her desk. It was a perky blond with a jacket that barely closed around her ample chest. "Um, who are you?" Elena asked not caring if she sounded rude.

The woman straightened her skirt. "Hi, I'm Paige Orson. You must he Mr. Salvatore's fiancée. He's waiting for you in his office."

"Oh, is he?" she said the sarcasm obvious in her tone. Things had escalated quickly. You would think that Damon would at the very least let her know that he was going to give her job to someone else.

Paige had the decency to blush. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes," Elena said feeling pity for the girl. "But not with you. Excuse me." She went into Damon's office where Stefan was already waiting for them. "You fired me and you didn't even let me know?" Elena spat and Stefan looked uncomfortable.

"It was something I decided at the last minute."

"Well, I wish you would have told me before. If this is how things are going to be from now on, then I want out."

"I think I'll let you two talk it out." Stefan said awkwardly as he left the room.

Once they were alone Elena crossed her arms over her chest and waited for an explanation and Damon sighed. "Elena, I can't have you working for me."

"And why not?"

"Because it won't look. . .proper. You being my secretary and all. Besides it's not like you will need to work. I'll pay for whatever you need."

"And what the hell am I supposed to do until I get pregnant and until our fictional baby is born?" she hissed.

"Surely you have hobbies."

"Damon," Elena groaned, thinking that this had been a big mistake. Damon, panicked at the thought that Elena was starting to back down.

He squeezed her hand. "Don't get overwhelmed. Not right now, not at the beginning when it's such a small step. If you're bored I will find you something to do. Now can I get Stefan back here before he faints in the hallway?" Elena nodded and Stefan came in.

Stefan handed her a contract. "You can look at the contract if you need to, but I'm sure that Damon has explained everything." Elena nodded, she glanced at the contract for a few minutes before she signed.

"What now?" Elena said with a shaky voice.

Damon smirked slightly and Elena didn't know if it was supposed to be a sign of sympathy or of mocking. "Now you get to meet my mother."

-End of Chapter Six-


	8. PART SEVEN

**PART SEVEN**

"I don't see why all of this is necessary," Elena said with a frown as Caroline practically dragged her. "I'm meeting Damon's mother, not the prime minister of France." They were currently in the new mall that had opened in town two years ago, but Elena had avoided going there since it was mainly designer stores. And since Elena had a tiny salary there was no way that she could afford any of these things. She still had last year's mom jeans.

"Elena," Caroline scolded as she practically pushed Elena into an extremely pink store called Sugar. "You are meeting your fiancé's mother for brunch for crying out loud! It's not, nothing. Besides we are talking about Lily Salvatore. Everyone has heard of her, she's a big name in fashion. She owns a wedding empire for crying out loud! You can't just show up in hoodies and sneakers."

"I own three hoodies," Elena said in her defense and Caroline rolled her eyes. Elena was starting to regret telling Caroline about the whole fake engagement in the first place. She swore that she was the only person that she was going to tell. Besides after Elena meet the famous Lily Salvatore Damon was going to meet her parents and honestly Elena didn't know what was worse, since her parents were exactly easy either.

She and Caroline entered the store that smelled like old granny perfume, Elena couldn't help, but noticed that it was completely empty. Out of curiosity she picked up a rose gold colored sweater. She nearly dropped it when she saw the price tag-$5,080. What kind of sweater cost over $5000? Her monthly rent was less than that! "Care," Elena hissed not so nicely to Caroline who was going through the racks without a care in the world. "There's no way I can afford this and even if I did have the money why would I spend thousands of dollars on this sweater? I could buy a hundred of these from Old Navy."

"Elena," Caroline scolded, obviously embarrassed. "Would you shut up for a second? You don't have to worry about money. You will probably never have to worry about money for the rest of your life. Besides Damon gave me his shiny credit card and told me to go crazy since he knew you wouldn't."

Elena blushed. "I can't use his money. Damon may be a jerk, but I do have decency and pride left."

Caroline laughed harshly. "Oh, honey that went out the window the second that you agreed to be his wife." She softened. "Look, Elena Damon wants to do this. Besides he's a well-known lawyer, not to mention that his family is rich. These are the kind of things that you're going to have to get used to. You can't meet his clients dressed in the Gap. Please don't make this difficult."

"Fine."

A heavily perfume saleslady came. "May I help you ladies? My name is Ellie."

"Yes," Caroline said sounding businesslike. "My friend here is meeting her fiancée's mother for the first time. We need something classy, elegant, and feminine."

Ellie smiled a wide, toothy smile that reminded Elena of a lion trying to catch his prey. "I have just the thing follow me."

Elena soon found herself being practically pushed into a fitting room that was bigger than her bathroom and being handed an assortment of skirts, dresses, dress pants, and blouses. They finally settled on a rose-colored pencil skirt, strappy nude high heels, and a cream-colored blouse.

Elena tried her best not practically not faint when she saw the total: $2,069.

She didn't know if she should be grateful to Damon or want to kill him. "Relax," Caroline whispered in her ear. "It's not your money. Thank you so much, Ellie you've been so helpful."

"My pleasure ladies, please come again!"

"Not likely," Elena whispered under her breath as Caroline practically pulled her from the store.

* * *

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Damon hissed at her the following Sunday as they stood in front of his mother's house. "It's brunch with mother, you're not facing the execution squad."

"Well it feels that way." Elena murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing." The door opened and a heavily starched man opened the door. He was obviously the butler. "Mr. Salvatore, welcome and Miss- "

"Gilbert, Jeffrey." Damon said squeezing Elena's waist. "This is Miss Elena Gilbert. She will be having Bruch with us. I already informed Mrs. Salvatore."

"Very good, sir," Jeffrey said as he let them in. Elena bit back her tongue, but raised her eyebrow slightly in Damon's direction, trying to say: _you have a butler_? Damon in turn pretended not to see.

They went towards the living room which was nicely decorated. Lily Salvatore was already there sipping on a drink. She stood up when she saw them. Elena noticed that she was very pretty. Good genes must run in the Salvatore family. "You're here. Welcome." She quickly kissed Damon on the cheek and then turned towards Elena. "And this must be the famous, Elena."

"Hi," Elena said stuttering slightly as she shook Lily's hand. "I'm Elena Gilbert. It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Salvatore."

Lily chuckled. "Actually, Elena the pleasure is all mine. I have never meet any of Damon's girlfriends. He's always so secretive, but you seem like a sweet girl. Please call me, Lily. Please follow me to the garden we will be having brunch there and you can tell me all about how you and my son meet."

"Sounds delightful," Elena said in a bright cheery voice, she shot Damon a look that practically said, _well what know,_ _Mr. Smart-ass?_ Damon rolled his blue eyes and gave her a look that said, _relax Gilbert I will handle this._

Lily had decorated a beautiful table in the middle of the equally beautiful garden. Elena saw a bunch of food in silver plates line up in buffet styles. Buttery croissants, fresh fruit, eggs, steak, pieces of dry salmon on toast. "Please help yourselves." Lily said as she handed Elena a plate.

A few minutes later the three of them were sitting at a small table. Lily smiled at them. "Now, I hope you don't accuse me of being nosy, but Elena I need to know how did you and my son meet?"

Damon took a bite of toast and then cleared his throat. "Actually, Mom I can tell the story way better than Elena can."

"Yes, he can," Elena said dryly. "He's quite the storyteller."

"I'm sure you can, Damon," Lily said in a sweet voice. "But I would like to hear it from Elena's perspective? In fact, I want to know more about you, Elena. Where did you go to college?"

"Whitmore College," the lie expelled from Elena's lips before she could stop it.

"And what is your major?"

"Um, pre-med. I am currently in medical school." Elena continued not sure where the lies were coming from. She hadn't even attended college and just a few days prior she had been her son's secretary.

"Smart girl." Lily said. "And have you've been with my son for a long time?"

"Mrs. Salvatore," Elena said as she looked at Damon. "I couldn't imagine my life without him."

-End of Chapter Seven-

Thanks for your reviews! I am glad that you're enjoying the story.


	9. PART EIGHT

**PART EIGHT**

Elena and Damon walked in complete, stony silence all the way back to Damon's car. By the way that Damon's jaw was clenching she wouldn't be surprised if her future husband's head exploded in front of his mother's nice lawn.

Damon opened the door for Elena and Elena went inside. Neither of them said anything until Damon blurted out. "What the hell was that?"

"What?" Elena asked innocently even though she knew exactly what she had done. Damon threw her a very dirty look. "You know what, Elena. Medical school? Whitmore? You barely graduated high school and you didn't even go to college!"

"I know!" Elena hissed. "I don't need you to remind me."

"Then why did you lie?" Damon looked dumbfounded. Elena looked at her lap. "You know that my mother is going to find out eventually. She is more than just a pretty face and she does better work than then FBI."

"I know," she nearly shrieked, her face bright red. "I guess I was just-I was embarrassed. Your family is so wealthy and well educated, I mean you and Stefan went to Ivy League Schools and your mother runs the biggest wedding dress emporium in the nation. It's kind of hard not to feel overwhelmed. I just feel like a brunette airhead who has no job since you already hired someone else. Maybe we should just cancel this whole thing- "

"No," Damon stopped short. "We are not canceling it just because you are being intimidated by my mother. Everyone gets intimidated by my mother. Elena, I don't care if you went to an Ivy League college or just to the local high school. I want you. Now are staying with me or not?"

Elena nodded. "I'm staying."

"Good," Damon's face relaxed. "Now I just need to meet your parents and we'll get started."

* * *

The following Sunday Damon and Elena meet at the Gilbert's house for Sunday dinner and for her parents to meet her mysterious fiancé that she had gotten overnight. Elena had changed into a pale blue dress and she was currently helping her mother to set the table, while at the same time trying not to faint from nervousness.

"Elena, relax." Miranda said playfully. "Your father and I aren't going to kill the guy. I just wished that you would have mentioned it sooner that you were dating a nice guy. What was his name?"

"Damon." Elena said as she finished tossing the salad. "Damon Salvatore."

"That name sounds familiar. Where did you meet him?"

"At the office," she cleared her throat. "He works with the guy that hired me, Stefan. You now the guy that Caroline recommended me too."

Miranda nodded, not really paying attention. "I wished you would have told me sooner. A mother must know these things Elena. Especially since you're my only daughter. You mentioned a surprise. Can't I even get a hint of what it is?"

"No," Elena said forcing a smile. "You are going to have to wait like everyone else, mom."

Miranda chuckled. "Ok." She heard the doorbell ring and Elena excused herself to get it. She opened the door and saw Damon in a suit and carrying flowers for her mother. Damon raised an eyebrow. "Will you stop looking like you're about to throw up."

"I'm not," she protested as she let him in. "Just eat as quickly as possible and be charming."

Damon scoffed. "I'm always charming."

"Daddy!" Elena stopped rolling her eyes at Damon when her father walked into the room. "Daddy this is my boyfriend, Damon Salvatore."

"Nice to meet you, Damon." Grayson said. "Please come in and have a drink, dinner is almost ready. I'm Dr. Grayson Gilbert."

"A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Gilbert," Damon said as Grayson filled the glasses of wine. Elena and Miranda meanwhile started serving dinner.

"This looks delicious, Mrs. Gilbert." Damon purred as he handed her the flowers. Miranda blushed as she accepted the flowers.

"Why, thank you, Damon we are thrilled to meet you. Now I hope I'm not being rude. But what is the big surprise?"

Elena shook her head. "Mom, we don't want to go through that now."

"No, please darling let's talk about it now," Damon said as he squeezed Elena's hand. "I know this is last minute and probably a surprise, Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert, Elena and I are getting married."

"So soon?" Miranda looked worried. "You barely started dating."

"We haven't mom, we have been dating for a few weeks, but Damon travels a lot." She lied.

Grayson cleared his throat. "Are you kids, sure about this. I mean Elena, your mother is right, no offense Damon but we hadn't heard of you until today. Not to mention that Elena is still so young."

"Oh, Daddy." Elena said dryly. "I am not that young, and Damon and I are in love. We want to get married. Won't you support us?"

"Of course, we will," Miranda said quickly. "Won't we Grayson?"

"Of course, we will," Grayson said. "As long as you are sure and Elena is happy."

8

"Please come again, Damon and don't be a stranger. Especially since we are going to be family soon." Grayson said as he shook Damon's hand. Elena couldn't believe that her father and Damon had gotten along. He was even referring to Damon as family, which was weird enough.

"Thank you, sir. I'm looking forward to it, we'll inform you and Mrs. Gilbert about the wedding soon."

"Oh, please." Miranda giggled. "Call me, Miranda enough with the formalities."

"Thank you for dinner mom, daddy." Her parents said your welcome and closed the door behind them. Elena relaxed.

"Well, at least that's over," she looked at Damon. "Thanks for doing this, I hope it wasn't too unbearable."

"Please your parents are better than my mother," Damon said as he cocked his head slightly. "We need to kiss."

Elena blushed. "Excuse me?"

"Kiss. You do know what kissing is, better get this awkward situation over with than during the wedding." Damon looked at Elena's flushed cheeks and the way that Elena was looking at the floor. "Elena, have you ever been kissed by someone?"

"Of course, I have," she protested her voice squeaking.

Damon grinned at her, obviously amused by the whole situation. "Elena, how many boyfriends have you had before me?"

Elena looked like she wanted to cry from embarrassment. "Damon, please- "

"Elena, tell me."

"Fine. None ok," Elena said. "No boys have ever even glanced in my direction to them I'm just a poor, little plain Jane. I have never kissed a boy, or gone on a date, or even held hands. You probably think I'm some kind of loser."

"Elena," Damon said softly. "I don't think you are a loser. You are just shy and there's nothing wrong with that." He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. Damon didn't say anything. He tilted her chin gently and gave her, her first long, slow kiss.

-End of Chapter Eight-

Thank you for your reviews! Would anyone be interested in doing a Fanfic cover for this story? If so, please PM me!


	10. PART NINE

**PART NINE**

They had decided on a wedding date. The wedding would be held on May 18. Three months from now and Elena thought it was the perfect date. She had always wanted a Spring wedding and the wedding would finally be perfect. It wouldn't be too hot or too cold and she could wear a nice dress.

Elena still felt the remainder of Damon's kiss on her lips. She couldn't help, but smile as she remembered how it felt. It had felt so wonderful, she had always thought that first kisses had to be awkward and terrible, but a first kiss with Damon had not be terrible at all. It had been lovely.

Elena wanted to do it again just to make sure that she hadn't dreamed it, but she was too shy to ask for another kiss and she didn't even know if Damon would want to kiss her again. Elena couldn't believe that today was her birthday. She was turning twenty-three today. She had already received birthday calls from her parents and a birthday package from Bonnie in the mail. Bonnie had included a letter wishing her the best for her birthday and telling her how busy she was with med school.

Caroline had invited her for a special birthday lunch since for the past few days she had been extremely busy with work. Elena hadn't told Damon about her birthday. Not because she didn't want him to know, but because she didn't know how to bring it up.

It didn't matter though, Elena had never been too fond of birthdays and besides she was turning twenty-three. It wasn't exactly a special birthday. Elena straightened her hair, watching the thick, brown locks fall against her heart shaped faced.

Ever since Damon had forced her to quit her job she had devoted much more time to her appearance, but she was bored. She checked her watch and realized that she was supposed to meet Caroline soon. She slipped on a black skirt and a red blouse and darted out the door.

Her purse felt heavy even though she didn't have much, but her wallet and some lip gloss. Her wallet, her cheeks flushed as she remembered the shiny blue credit card that Damon had given her. He insisted that Elena use it for anything and Elena had agreed, even though she still wasn't too comfortable using Damon's money. Elena felt like a lady of leisure and not in a good way.

Caroline was already seated at their favorite table at a small café called Benedicts. Her blond hair shined in the sun and she looked happy as always. Elena noticed that a small, pink wrapped gift was in front of Elena's place. Elena shook her head. "Caroline, you didn't have to get me anything."

"I wanted to," Caroline said as she hugged her friend. "Besides 23 is a big birthday. It's your special day so I'm deciding to spoil you, I hope your dear fiancé is doing the same."

"He's not actually." Elena cleared her throat. "I didn't tell him it's my birthday."

"Elena," Caroline complained. "Why the hell not? The whole point of having a rich fiancé is for him to spoil you on your birthday, otherwise what's the point."

Elena smiled. "The point is Damon is paying me to be his wife, I don't need anything extra. Now can I open my present?" Caroline nodded as she watched in excitement as Elena tore off the pink ribbon.

She pulled out a camera and she gasped. "Oh, Caroline, a camera. How lovely, but it must have been so expensive- "

Caroline shook her blond head. "I don't want you to think about price Elena, consider it an engagement and a birthday gift. Besides you deserved it, I remembered how much you loved blogging in high school. I thought if you had a camera it would inspired you more."

She nodded. "Thank you so much, Caroline. I really appreciate it, honest. But this is so fancy- "

Caroline rolled her blue eyes. "It really is not, stop exaggerating." She pushed a brochure towards her. "Mystic Falls community college offers some great photography courses. You should take one."

"I will think about it," Elena promised as she stuffed the brochure in the bag. "But, thank you. You're a good friend." She fiddled with her hands.

Caroline sighed. "Ok, spill it, Elena I know that you are dying to tell me something so spill it."

"Damon and I kissed on Sunday," she flushed. "After having dinner with my parents."

Caroline gasped. "No way! Was that your first kiss? Never mind, stupid question of course it was, you've never been on a date before Damon. How was it? Tell me everything!"

Elena could feel her cheeks turning red as she fanned herself. "It was very nice. I think it was very nice for a first kiss. He did tease me at first, but when he kissed me Caroline I felt like I was melting."

"Lucky," Caroline joked. "When I had my first kiss Brian ended up biting my lip so hard that I had to get stitches, well what do you know, Damon is capable of being an actual gentleman. Have you decided on a wedding date?"

"May 18." Elena said. "I will give you the invitations as soon as I picked them."

Caroline shook her head. "So soon? That is only a couple of months. You still need to pick your cake, your dress, and I need to plan your bachelorette's party of course- "

Elena shook her head. "I don't want a bachelorette's party, Caroline."

Caroline scoffed. "Don't be silly, you need to have a bachelorette's party," she looked at Elena curiously. "Oh, honey I forgot. This is going to be your first night with Damon. I'm so silly, it's like putting a lamb in the hands of a lion. Well, if you need any sex tips let me know, like if you want to get to orgasm quicker, you need to spread- "

Elena interrupted her when she realized that the rest of the patrons were looking at her with too much curiosity. "I think it'll be fine, Caroline."

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" Elena looked up from when she was eating Chinese take out. Damon had asked Elena to meet so that they could discuss how many people were coming to the wedding.

"Who told you?" Elena asked, briefly thinking that Caroline had opened her mouth.

"Stefan," Damon said flatly. "While we were going over the marriage contract. You should have told me, Elena."

Elena played with her chopsticks. "It's not a big deal- "

"It's a big deal to me," Damon interrupted. "Just because this is a marriage of convenience doesn't mean that I don't care about your birthday."

"All right," Elena replied not bothering to hide her smile.

-End of Chapter Nine-

P.S. I know Elena's birthday is in June, but I decided to make it a little earlier so that this chapter would make more sense. Thanks for reading! Best wishes.


	11. PART TEN

**PART TEN**

"No."

Elena narrowed her brown eyes at her soon to be husband reproachfully as she crossed her arms over her chest. She had just told Damon that she had taken Caroline's advice and signed up for a photography class at the local community college. But when she had told Damon over lunch he had been less than thrilled. "And why not?"

Damon looked frustrated as he signaled for the check impatiently. "You don't seem to understand how things work Elena. How things work for our society. Our type of people."

"Then why don't you explain them to me, _sweetheart."_

"Women in our world, don't work. Well, not the kind of jobs people associate with working. They plan charities, join the Women of Mystic Falls Organization." He blurted out. "Or something along those lines."

"Your mother works," Elena said with a raised eyebrow. "In case you've forgotten she is the CEO of a very important dress emporium."

"She had to," Damon said as he forced a smile to the waitress and quickly signed over the check. "My dad was a deadbeat husband, he had a head for making money, but what he got he quickly lost so it was up to my mom to make up the money somehow. I am not going to be my deadbeat father." Damon said a slight edge to him voice.

"Of course not, I didn't mean that," Elena said softly. "It's just one photography class, Damon. It takes six months and it's for fun. I loved photography classes when I was in high school. I am a little rusty. It would be nice to catch up."

Damon after a few seconds finally nodded. "Ok, I'm sorry Elena I'm not trying to be a tyrant it's just things are complicated right now. You should take the class, it's just a photography class, not a big deal. Go ahead, have fun."

A week later Elena started her first day of her Intro to Photography class at Mystic Falls Community College and she was just so fidgety. It's been so long since she had been in a classroom. It was kind of nerve wracking.

"Hi," a pretty raven haired girl smiled at her. "Mind if I sit here?"

Elena shook her head and the girl took the seat next to her. "Are you a photography major?"

"No," Elena said. "This is fun for me, but my friend gave me a fancy camera and I think I should learn how to use it before I actually attempt to take pictures. I'm Elena."

"Jordan. I am personally taking this class to get a break from all the Biology classes that I need to take. Bio major in route to medical school and I plan on being an orthopedic surgeon."

"Wow," Elena's eyes fluttered. "Ambitious."

Jordan shrugged. "Runs in my family I guess. What about you, what are your plans after this class. I mean you do have plans, right?"

Elena nodded. "I'm getting married soon and hopefully I'll get pregnant soon. I really want a baby."

Jordan nodded. "Wow, marriage a big step. What do you want to do after the baby?"

Elena looked at her puzzled. "What do you mean, Jordan? I want to take care of my baby, raise it and have a family."

Jordan shrugged. "Yeah, and that's noble and all. But what do you want to do, surely you want to go back to school and get a job." She said snarkily. "Or is your only goal in life to be the pretty housewife with a baby. That's kind of a simple, stupid dream Elena. No offense, but you should really be aiming for something more. I mean babies are cute, but they are surely not your whole world, are you?"

Elena flushed bright red and she tried to come up with something to say, but for some reason she froze. At that moment the professor came in, she was a tall woman with curly brown hair and turquoise glasses. "Welcome everyone to Into to Photography I am Professor Myers, I will pass on this sign in sheet. Please write your name."

* * *

Elena had no idea what she was doing in front of Lily's home. She must be insane. Or feeling guilty. Or still feeling horrible about what the students had said to her yesterday or maybe a combination of the three. At this point she honestly couldn't tell.

All she knew was that ever since she had told all those lies to Lily Salvatore, Elena had, had a constant upset stomach. Her entire marriage might be a lie, but that did not mean that she wanted Lily Salvatore to know that she had lied to her during the duration of her fake marriage. Besides Lily didn't seem like the forgive and forget type.

She knocked on the door and the butler opened. "Hello, is Mrs. Salvatore here?"

The butler nodded. "Right this way, Miss Gilbert. She is in her office, but you're more than welcome to wait in her living room and I'll let her know that you're here."

Elena nodded. "Thank you."

She waited nervously until Lily showed up. "Elena, what a surprise. Is Damon with you?"

"No, I actually came to speak to you privately."

"I'm attentive."

Elena fidgeted slightly, this probably wasn't a good idea, not to mention that Damon would probably killed her if he found out that she was here talking to his mother. "I need to tell you something, it's kind of embarrassing, but it's about the last time that we meet."

"Oh?"

Elena flushed. "I wasn't entirely truthful. I used to be Damon and Stefan's secretary. I'm not going to medical school and I only have a high school degree. Damon asked me to marry him and have a baby so that he could get his inheritance. I am so sorry I lied." She looked back up and saw that Lily didn't look surprised at all. "You don't seem surprise. Did you know? Did Damon tell you?"

"Of course, he didn't and of course I know," Lily snorted. "Elena, dear did you really think that I wouldn't do a background check on you? I wouldn't let just anyone marry into this family. I knew you were lying about medical school. I know how desperate Damon is though I don't blame him. His father did do a cheap shot. I hope my son is paying you well."

Elena swallowed. "He is. You're not mad?"

"We'll I'm not pleased, but at least now I know that you have a conscience. Now I hope that you won't be too difficult with the divorced procedures when the time comes."

"N-No."

"Good," Lily smiled. "Now, Elena I'm sorry that I must cut our meeting short, but I need to leave."

-End of Chapter Ten-

Sorry that I haven't updated. Finals have been crazy and I just finished my Junior year of college. Thank you so much for your patience though, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	12. PART ELEVEN

**PART ELEVEN**

"Mr. Salvatore," Paige told him. "Your fiancée is here to see you."

Damon raised an eyebrow as he looked up from his pile of work that he currently had on his table. Work had become exhausted and complicated in these past few days. It felt like everyone had decided to commit stupidities lately. "Send her in." Damon wondered why Elena had called on him.

It was no secret that Elena was bored unlike other women he dated who would spend his money on cars and shopping Elena hadn't touched a cent. Most of her time was spent on her photography class and planning a wedding.

Elena came in wearing a snug skirt that hugged her hips and a blue blouse. For the first time Damon seemed to notice that she had curves and breasts when she wasn't hiding her body in the usual, baggy librarian clothes that she wore. It seemed that her time with Caroline was beginning to rub off a little.

"Elena," Damon greeted her. "Did you need something?"

"Yes," Elena said looking more confident than Damon had ever seen her. "We need to go on a date. Like a regular date. Not a onetime thing."

Damon raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Excuse me?"

Elena sighed as she nervously began playing with her hair. She hadn't told Damon that she had gone to meet with Lily and Elena was starting to think that perhaps it was better if she kept that to herself. "It's just the wedding is some short months away and then we're planning-I'm planning to get pregnant afterwards. I just think that we should get to know each other better before that happens. Can we go to dinner or coffee, at least a few times a week? I know you're busy, but- "

"Elena, I can handle dinner," Damon said with a small eye roll. "Besides, it was part of the contract. We agreed to get to know each other. Do you have a place ready?"

Elena nodded. "It's a place my family and I used to go to. I'll text you the address."

* * *

Damon and Elena arrived in a small restaurant that was located in the middle of town. If Damon could describe it, in one word it would be "quaint" it was kind of like the restaurants that you saw in the set of The Notebook. But by the way that Elena was acting, she looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

There were only a few elderly couples and a couple of young parents with kids when Elena and Damon came in. A smiling, middle age waitress greeted them. "Hello, Elena how lovely to see you. How are Miranda and Grayson?"

"They are great, Susan. Thank you." Elena pushed Damon slightly forward. "This is my fiancé, Damon Salvatore."

Damon smiled at Susan. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Susan squeezed Elena's hand. "Nice to see you again, sweetie. I'll get you a table right away." Within seconds Susan had them seated at a small table and handed them their menus with promises that she would come to take their order soon.

"She seems nice," Damon said as he looked up. "Do you know her a lot?"

"Sort of," Elena said. "My parents and I used to come here a lot when I was a little girl. We stopped eventually, Dad got busy with his practice and my parents were upset when I didn't continue with college and we got into a bit of a row."

"Why didn't you go to college, if you don't mind me asking?" Damon asked curiously.

Elena shrugged as she sipped her water. "Nothing big. I guess I just liked more artistic things writing and photography. You don't exactly get big bucks for taking pictures. I never really been one of those women who wanted a big career."

Susan came quickly with their drinks and to take their orders. Elena ordered the fried chicken and Damon ordered the steak. "Any interesting cases?" Damon was mainly a business attorney handling cases relating to businesses both big and small, while Stefan was a criminal attorney. Damon who was interested in criminology often helped his brother out when he had the time.

"Rosie's is going out of business," he said. "Filing for bankruptcy tomorrow." Elena frowned. Rosie's was a local antique store and the owners were kind, elderly people. "Sorry, that's depressing. How's your photography class going?"

"It's going great," Elena said with a smile. She hadn't told Damon about her nasty encounter with Jordan and she was determined to avoid the horrible woman. "My teacher is quite nice. We are starting our projects soon. We're going to be dealing with nature."

Damon wrinkled his nose slightly. "Funny."

Elena laughed as Susan put down their dinners. "I guess you're not much of a nature person, Mr. Lawyer."

"I'm not going to lie the idea of camping on the cold, hard ground with mosquitos flying everywhere has never been appealing. I'm glad you enjoy it," Damon took a bite from his food. "I'm sorry again for being such a hard ass about you taking the class."

Elena shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm enjoying it."

"Plus, it would serve for great practice when we go on our honeymoon," Damon said and he noticed Elena's surprised look. "I haven't asked you, where do you want to go on our honeymoon?"

"I'm not sure," Elena stuttered, caught slightly by surprise. "Perhaps the beach. I always liked the sun. I never traveled outside of Mystic Falls. Anything will be fine with me."

Damon nodded. "The beach it is. So, should we get dessert?"

* * *

Lily had insisted that Elena pick a dress from her many bridal shops and since her wedding day was just around the corner, Elena needed to pick a dress now. The following weekend, Elena invited Caroline and Miranda to help her pick her wedding dress.

The Salvatore Bridal shop had so many beautiful dresses, it was going to be hard to choose. "There are so many pretty dresses," Caroline cooed as she accepted the champagne glass that one of the saleslady's handed her. "How will you ever choose, Elena? They are so pretty! You're so lucky!"

"Take your time," Miranda said patiently. "You don't want to choose the wrong dress because you're in a hurry. You only get married once."

"We have this lonely one that just came in by a French designer, would you like to try it on?" the saleslady said. Elena nodded and a few seconds later Elena came out wearing what she thought was the most beautiful dress.

It was princess style with a sweetheart neckline and adorned with lace. There were little white flowers on the straps and the corset style made her waist look tiny. There were tiny beads around the waist and it was quite possibly the most pretty dress she had ever seen.

"That's it. That's you dress."

Elena turned around and saw Bonnie behind her. Bonnie smiled and Elena screamed. "Bonnie!" and went to hug her friend.

-End of Part Eleven-

Thanks for your reviews!


	13. PART TWELVE

**PART TWELVE**

"Bonnie, oh my god I can't believe that you're here!" Elena said as she hugged Bonnie even tighter. The dark-haired beauty pulled away. "What are you doing here, I thought you were away at medical school?"

"I am," Bonnie said with a smile. "But the school is doing renovations this week. The school can charge us thousands of dollars in tuition, but can't fix a simple building. Long story short if they don't want the entire student body to sue their asses then they better fix it before it collapses on us. So, they gave us a week and when Caroline slipped it that you were going to get married, I decided to pop in and give you a surprise visit."

"I was going to tell you when the invitations were send," Elena apologized. "I'm sorry, it was going to be kind of a surprise and everything happened at the last minute- "

Bonnie shook her head. "Don't apologize, now let's just look at wedding dresses. This one looks amazing on you."

Caroline nodded, her cheeks flushed with happiness. "It totally does, this is your dress Elena."

"Now, now," Miranda said as she hugged Bonnie hello. "I was promised that Elena would try on a few wedding dresses before she decided on one. Now, Elena don't leave us in suspense and try on a few more dresses."

Elena seemed to have tried on over fifty dresses in different shades of white, skirts, suits, and even pants. Though Miranda, Caroline, and Bonnie agreed that nothing could replace the traditional wedding dress. In the end, the first dress was chosen.

Miranda excuse herself so that the girls could catch up and Caroline recommended a nearby restaurant so that they could have lunch. Elena was so happy she felt like she was going to burst into happy tears. She felt like she was in high school again with her best friends Bonnie and Caroline.

"Well, now that the wedding dress has been picked, we need to think about bridesmaid dresses. No pastel colors please or gray. I hate gray- "

"Care," Elena interrupted with a smile. "Can we take a break from the wedding planning? Between you, Lily, my mom, and Damon I feel like my head is going to burst."

"Fine," Caroline said. "We'll take a break. Sorry, I'm getting overexcited. I just thought I would be the first one in our group to get married."

"Well, Elena won." Bonnie said with a smile as she took a sip of water. "Now, Elena tell me about the famous Damon what is he like? How did you two meet, he must have swept you off your feet if you are going to marry so soon."

"He was actually my boss and it's complicated." She exchanged looks with Caroline. "It's not the traditional love story. It's sort of an arrangement. I'm going to tell you, Bon because you are one of my best friends, but you can't tell anyone." Bonnie swore and Elena told her about the arrangement that she and Damon had.

Bonnie looked disgusted at the end. "Really, Elena you are getting married to this asshole because of a baby, because this fuckboy is giving you a shitload of money? What's wrong with you, I thought you were better than this!"

"It's just an arrangement, Bonnie," Elena said. "Damon and I knew what we were getting into. He didn't con me into anything. It was perfectly civilized- "

"Civilized, right." Bonnie snorted. "Elena, you do realize that there is another world out there besides your little dream world, right? How can you throw your life away for a baby, you could go to medical school or law school or do something with your life."

"Well, maybe I don't want that. Not every woman wants a high-power career, Bonnie. Some women are perfectly fine with the white picket fence, kids, and a dog. Just because it wouldn't be a good life for you, don't try to guilt trip me into thinking like you. Excuse me."

Elena could hear Caroline slightly scolding Bonnie once she stood up, but Elena didn't pay attention. She just wanted some time for herself. She wanted to think clearly. She went into the ladies' room and was grateful that it was empty. She dabbed cold water on her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked exhausted.

But was Bonnie, right? Was Elena a complete idiot for marrying Damon because he promised her a baby? Would she regret it, in the future? Her thoughts were interrupted because of a ringing phone. Elena opened it and saw that it was Damon who was calling. She ignored his call and headed outside to meet her friends.

* * *

"This is Elena, please leave a message after the beep- "Damon hung up the phone when Elena did not answer in frustration. His brother Stefan often called the "good Salvatore" looked up from him paperwork. Like always his forehead was furrowed in concentration, often giving him that angry angsty look.

"Something wrong?" Stefan asked.

"It's Elena, she's not answering," Damon said. "We still need to take care of some things for the wedding since it's a short time away. Mom has been driving me crazy asking me things about wedding venues, and who we should invite, and all sort of stupid questions that are driving me up a wall." He showed Stefan all the messages that his mother had left him, plus the twelve voice mails. "Elena, promised that she would take care of this stuff. I have too much to do, it feels like everyone has decided to file for bankruptcy in this past month."

"Why don't you take care of it?"

"Please," Damon said. "Does it look like I care about weddings? I just want to get married and have a baby with her. I thought everything was going well, but then Elena constantly pulls this hot and cold attitude. I have no idea what is causing this."

Stefan rolled his eyes and Damon glared at him, the silent brother pleading to please elaborate. Stefan gave a long, suffering sigh. "Damon, has it ever occurred to you that maybe Elena's hot and cold attitude is because of you. I mean, I know it's business but would it kill you to be romantic."

"It is a business deal, little brother." Damon said with an eye roll refusing to hold up any responsibility. "She knew from the start that this was not a regular lovey dovey type of relationship and she agreed. Believe me, Elena doesn't seem like the type that likes romance."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "The majority of women like romance. I have a feeling that Elena is one of those women. I know you have some type of marriage contract figured out, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little more romantic. At the very least you'll get her to answer your calls."

"All right, I get it Romeo," Damon said as he looked at this phone to check if Elena had called, but it was only Lily again. "I'll figure something out."

* * *

Damon was waiting for Elena once she returned from the disastrous lunch date. Bonnie had apologized, but Elena had a feeling that she was not being sincere. She saw Damon waiting outside her apartment for her.

"Damon," Elena said. "What are you- "

Damon didn't let her finish as he kissed her while at the same time he caressed her cheeks. His kiss felt warm and inviting, just what Elena needed after a long day. Even though he had only kissed her once. Elena loved the feeling of Damon's lips as he kissed her. "What was that for?"

"Well, practice makes perfect," Damon said with a smirk. "And we need to get used to it, we're going to be doing a lot of it."

* * *

"Elena, can you stay please?" Professor Myers said after her class on Monday. Elena nodded as she went towards the teacher. She liked professor Myers, she was strict, but a nice woman.

Elena shifted nervously. "Is something wrong?"

"No, in fact I wanted to congratulate you," she showed Elena the picture that she had taken for an assignment. It was a picture of the rose garden in Mystic Falls. "This is beautiful work. The best I've seen in a while. I just wanted to let you know."

Elena flushed, pleased. "Really, wow. Thank you!"

She nodded. "You have real talent, Elena."

-End of Part Twelve-

Sorry that I haven't updated you guys I've been feeling sick and I'm currently taking summer college classes and working, so things are going to be slow unfortunately over the summer.


	14. PART THIRTEEN

**PART THIRTEEN**

"I don't want a bachelorette party," Elena scowled at her best friend, Caroline. The two of them were currently going over the guest list to make sure that they hadn't missed anything. After all the wedding was only a week away and there still seemed ample things to be done. Elena was briefly living back with her parents. She had given up her apartment yesterday. She and Damon would be moving into their new house when they returned from their honeymoon.

Elena had the suspicion that Damon had already purchase the house, but he didn't want to share the information with her. She looked towards Bonnie who wasn't really paying much attention to Elena and Caroline's squabbling. There had been tension between Bonnie and Elena ever since Elena had revealed the real reason that she was marrying Damon.

"Bonnie," Caroline said with a roll of her eyes. "Tell Elena that she needs to have a bachelorette party. She is only getting married once."

"I'm divorcing Damon as soon as the baby is born." Elena snorted. "I might get married a second time."

"Regardless," Caroline pouted. "You are the first one of our group of friends who is getting married. Fake marriage or real marriage. It doesn't matter, Elena please."

Elena paused for a moment. "Ok, but no strippers," she saw Caroline's disappointed face and she waved her hand. "I am serious, Caroline. No strippers. You know how uncomfortable they make me."

"Fine," Caroline said with a huff. "Be boring. We will come pick you up at your parents at eight pm. Wear something sexy and for the love of god smile. It's your last night as a single woman before you're married to Damon Salvatore forever!"

* * *

"Are you ready, little brother?" Damon peeked inside of Stefan's office. Stefan was hunched over his desk. There were papers everywhere and he was obviously handling a difficult case. Stefan looked up, an annoyed look on his face. "Ready for what?"

"Bachelor party," Damon said with a smirk on his face. "Klaus, Elijah, and Kol were kind enough to organize it." Kol, Klaus, Elijah, Finn and their baby sister Rebekah were their cousins on their mother's side. They lived all the way in New Orleans so they didn't see them that often. Crazy was the best word that Stefan had to describe them.

"Damon, I don't want to go to a bachelor party." Stefan said with a long-suffering sigh.

"I know because you hate everything that involves having fun," Damon said with all seriousness. "But you're my baby brother and best man, and the Mikaelsons are our cousins. So, you're going. So, come on baby brother and hop into the shower. The strippers don't want to give a lap dance to someone who is always frowning."

Stefan threw Damon a look. "Fine, I'll go, but I won't participate."

"Fine, be a spoilsport. We should probably stop at the ATM to get some, one-dollar bills so that we can slip it into the stripper's thong."

"You're disgusting."

* * *

"Shot!Shot!Shot!" A bunch of girls cheered as Elena at the center with Bonnie and Caroline at her side finished their tequila shots. The tequila burn her tongue, but she was so drunk that she didn't even care.

Elena was dressed in a short, black gown. A pink scarf and a plastic silver crown that said BRIDE TO BE. Elena didn't know how she had ended up this situation. She was a good girl by nature. But in under two hours she had turned into a good girl gone wild complete with the short dress, too much pink lipstick, and a tiny, black lace thong.

Two hours ago Caroline had picked Elena up and taken her to a bar called KISSES. She had thought that they would have a couple of drinks and then go home. After all, the wedding was tomorrow evening.

But much to her surprise when Elena entered the bar she saw a group of twelve girls jumping out and yelling surprise! They had been girls from Elena's high school days such as Vicki Donovan, Davina Claire, among a few second cousins that Elena didn't talk too. Caroline put a silver crown on her head and before Elena could protest, Vicki Donovan had handed her a pink drink that had made Elena feel instantly drunk.

Elena couldn't remember how many drinks she had, had. All she knew that for once in her life she wasn't worrying. "Elena," Bonnie said standing besides her, even medical student Bonnie looked tipsy. "I'm sorry about what I said about Damon. Not my place to judge. Forgive me?"

Elena nodded, getting another drink from Davina. "Always."

Loud music began playing and Caroline started screaming. "Oh my god the strippers are here!"

"What?" Elena blurted out. "Caroline, no I said no strippers." The blond shrugged as she started waving her arms around. Elena noticed that a male stripper wearing a navy-blue thong, tie, and police cap came in swinging his hips.

Caroline practically forced Elena to sit down in a chair in the middle. Elena heard someone yelling in a speaker. "Give it up for the bride to be-Miss Elena Gilbert in her last night of freedom!" The girls cheered as the stripper started dancing around Elena, wiggling his butt cheeks at her and dancing to "I'm Sexy and I Know It."

Elena could feel herself blushing. She suddenly couldn't wait for this night to be over.

* * *

"Why are you here?" Damon scowled at Rebekah as they headed to a local strip joint named _Gals._ Klaus, Elijah, Kol, and Stefan followed behind. Finn had been the only one that had declined to go, saying that he would rather spend time with his wife, Sage. Rebekah had tagged along instead. Damon loved his baby cousin even though she could sometimes be a little bitch.

"Why do you think?" Rebekah raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "The same thing as you, I am going to look at girls. That is what being a lesbian means, Damon. I don't enjoy looking at naked men. Why do you think I'll ruin your little boys night?"

"Yes," Klaus said.

Kol rolled his eyes. "Oh, please Niklaus. You are just jealous that Bekah can get more dates than you." Rebekah smirked.

"I am not."

"I'm surprised that your wife even let you come," Stefan told Elijah. Elijah had been married for five years to a curly hair brunette named Katherine Piece. Katherine was currently six months pregnant with twin boys.

Elijah pursed his lips. "I didn't want to come. She's forcing me to attend Damon's little party as a form of torture."

"Enough talking about wives!" Klaus said. "Let's go inside. First round is on me." The six of them entered the club and were greeted by tan and curvy women in barely there bikinis. Damon found himself with a drink in his hand.

Damon looked around the club and it's extremely bright lights. Damon could see Elijah practically hiding in a corner with his drink like the whipped husband that he was. Stefan was blushing as a woman practically started humping him. Klaus and Kol were fighting over a blond and Rebekah was flirting with a red head.

Even though Damon had been looking forward to it all evening he suddenly didn't want to be here.

-End of Chapter Thirteen-

Thank you for your super awesome reviews! Next chapter is the wedding!

I also apologize if this chapter is all over the place, I am kind of going through some hard stuff right now that has triggered (and honestly made worse) my PTSD, depression, and anxiety. So, I am sorry if the chapters that I am updating for my stories are kind of sloppy, I am kind of in a bad place right now mentally and emotionally.


	15. PART FOURTEEN

**PART FOURTEEN**

It was her wedding day. Today was the day that she was going to get married. A variation of this thought kept playing all through Elena's head the second she woke up. She still felt a little lightheaded, but she didn't know if it was because of how much she had drank the night before or because she still felt the embarrassment of being the main attraction of a strip show.

She slowly got up, she could hear her parents rumbling around downstairs and her mother making a bunch of calls. Elena knew that she should be happy, but she was feeling a bit of dread in the pit of her stomach. Was she regretting this already?

Elena and Damon had kissed a few times, but that didn't mean anything did it? After all Damon was a playboy before he got together with Elena he would kiss anything that was wearing a skirt.

Elena shook her head and pushed away the negative thinking. It was just a bad case of nerves she told herself. She quickly got into the shower and tried to calm down her unsettling nerves as she washed her hair with her favorite lavender shampoo. The ceremony would take place at noon at some fancy resort that Lily had booked. Apparently, a duchess or Japanese Princess had been married there. Elena sincerely doubted it, but she thought it would be best to go along with it. Lily had been worse off than Elena these past few days calling her every three hours as if Lily would be the one getting married.

"Elena, honey hurry," Miranda called up anxiously. "Bertha is already waiting back at the resort."

The resort had provided a couple of private rooms so that the bridesmaids and groomsmen could get ready before the ceremony. Bertha would be doing the hair and make up for Elena's wedding. Apparently, she had flown in from London and was one of the best according to Lily Salvatore.

"Coming mom," Elena said impatiently as she put her brown hair into a messy ponytail and squeezed into a pair of black jeans. She quickly made sure that she hadn't forgotten anything and then she headed downstairs.

Miranda was already waiting downstairs while Grayson munched on an apple. He kissed Elena on the cheek and Elena forced a smile. Miranda grinned at her. "Ready for the big day, hon?"

Elena nodded. "As ready as I will ever be."

Miranda looked confused at Elena's remark, but didn't say anything else as she and Elena drove to the resort that was thirty minutes away. Elena checked her phone, she had a text from Caroline. Apparently, all the bridesmaids were there prepped and ready. Originally Caroline and Bonnie were going to be her only bridesmaids, that is until Damon had insisted that she had to have Rebekah his cousin and Katherine, his other cousin's wife in the wedding party even though Elena had protested that she did not know them.

Damon's own groomens would be Elijah, Stefan, Klaus, and Kol since Finn had no desire to participate in any wedding. Elena had not even meet Katherine and Rebekah, she only hoped that they were nice.

"We're late," Miranda said nervously. It was nine forty-five and both she and Elena still had to do hair and makeup and dress.

"We're going to make it," Elena said numbly as the manager told them that they were in the Rose room and that the wedding party was already there. Elena pushed the door open and Elena heard giggling and she smelled sweet perfume and cake.

Caroline, Bonnie, and two girls who Elena did not know were already dressed in the pink gowns that Elena had choosen. Their makeup and hair was already done and they were drinking champagne.

"Elena," Caroline cried as she lifted her glass. She already looked a little drunk. "You made it."

"I did," Elena forced a smile. She did not need any drunk bridesmaids at her wedding. She turned to the two girls. "Hi, you must be from Damon's side of the family. I'm Elena."

"Oh, yes," the pretty blond pursed her lips. "Elena, nice to meet you. I'm Rebekah."

The pretty pregnant brunette seemed to give Elena the once over before she put a piece of chocolate in her mouth. She was very pregnant. "And I'm Katherine Mikaelson."

"Well, thank you for coming," Elena said awkwardly. She wasn't the best with social situations. "I hope you liked your dresses."

Rebekah shrugged. "They are. . .cute."

"Miss Gilbert," Bertha the hairdresser said impatiently. "Time is flying, sit now." She pointed to their chair in front of the mirror. "We still need to do your hair and makeup and the wedding is less than three hours away."

"Of course, sorry Bertha." She plopped herself in the chair and tried to concentrate by letting out small breaths. One, two, three.

She felt as Betha massaged her skull and then divided the brown hair into several sections. She was muttering under her breath a French song or was it Portuguese? Elena heard the conversation in the background, Caroline stating that she was going to get more champagne and Bonnie mentioned that she was going to go to the bathroom.

From her position at the mirror, Elena could see Rebekah and Katherine huddled in the back of the room. But Elena could still hear them despite all the whispering.

". . .she's just so plain looking."

"Not pretty at all. . ."

"I wonder what Damon saw in her. He used to be so picky."

Elena flinched and she could feel her cheeks grow red.

"Don't move your head so much." Bertha said tensely

"Sorry," Elena squeaked

* * *

"Damon?"

Damon turned around and saw his future mother in law Miranda looking anxious. She was wearing a cream-colored dress. He smiled. "Miranda, you look lovely." Damon was already dressed in his tux and his groomsmen were all ready. They were teasing Klaus about some hot blond. They were seconds away from positioning themselves before Elena would walk down the aisle.

"Thank you, sweetie," she said. "Listen, I know it is against tradition, but I was wondering if you could talk to Elena. She seems a little nervous, I don't think it's cold feet, but she might feel more confident coming from you."

"Sure, I will talk to her." It wasn't like he and Elena were the traditional bride and groom. "What room is she in?"

"The Rose room." She squeezed his hand as Damon made his way towards the Rose room. He pushed the door open and stood short when he saw Elena.

She looked absolutely stunning. She was wearing a beautiful dress that hugged every curve of her body, the veil adorned her pretty face, and he didn't know what Bertha had done, but her eyes looked bigger and more doe eyed. "You look beautiful," Damon murmured.

"Thank you," Elena lowered her lip. "Damon, I'm sorry, but I can't marry you."

-End of Chapter Fourteen-


	16. PART FIFTEEN

**PART FIFTEEN**

Damon stared at the woman who he was supposed to be marrying in less than twenty minutes. His mouth felt dry and he didn't know what to say. He could tell that Elena was in the mist of tears and he didn't know how things had gotten this way. She had been more than willing to marry Damon yesterday. How had that changed?

"Elena," his voice became chalky. "There are literally 300 people ready to see us get married and you're calling off the wedding?"

"I'm sorry," Elena repeated. "But I can't marry you."

"I know that, you said that already." Damon tried not to appear too annoyed. The last thing that he wanted to do was scare her off. "Can I get a reason to why you can't marry me? Is it the money, you want more-"

"It's not about the money." Elena said softly. "You have been more than generous. But I think that you and I are not the right choice." She thought about the catty comments that Rebekah and Katherine had made. "But Damon you are such a handsome and rich man, surely you can have your pick of women. Women who would kill to marry you." Elena didn't know what she was saying. She had never been very good at confronting people.

Damon looked at her flatly, his blue eyes wide with disbelief at what he was hearing. "And yet, I don't want to marry them. I want to marry you." He raised an eyebrow. "Elena, I really did not want to bring this up, but you're leaving me with no choice. You signed a contract if you remember, you are legally obliged to marry me, that's what you signed."

Elena's cheeks felt hot as she started stuttering. "I know that-"

"So you also know that if you decide to end this relationship without marriage you basically get sued." Damon raised an eyebrow. "We are talking about a lot of fines, Elena and a lot of money. All of this can easily be avoided by one year of marriage and a baby give or take." He looked at her. "Is it me? Is it something that I said? Did I hurt you in any way?"

"No," she said quietly. "Of course not. It's just I heard Rebekah and Katherine talking."

"What about them?" Damon insisted. "Did they say anything? Honestly, those two are always running their mouths for one reason or another. Listen to me, Elena I don't care what they said. Don't listen to them, they are nuts. One of them is my crazy cousin and Katherine, well Elijah has not always had the best tastes."

"But what if they are right?" Elena asked quietly. "What if you get bored of me?"

Damon tilted her chin. "Now you're the one being silly. I will never get bored of you, Elena. You're too special to be boring. Now that we have that settled, will you please marry me?" Elena nodded as Damon kissed her cheek. "You're doing the right thing, Elena. I'll get Grayson."

A few minutes later Grayson appeared in a navy blue suit. "Are you ready, honey?"

Elena nodded, smiling nervously. "As ready as I will ever be." Grayson lead her towards the entrance, where they would first start to walk. Elena heard the organ playing and she forced a smile on her face. She slowly started walking down the aisle as dozens of people stared at her. People that she didn't even know.

She finally reached the end of the aisle. The priest, a man who was pushing 70 cleared his throat. "We are gathered here today to join Damon Giuseppe Salvatore and Elena Marie Gilbert in Holy Matrimony."

The ceremony went by fast, faster than Elena had expected and before she knew it the elderly priest asked her. "Elena, do you take Damon to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." Elena blurted out.

"Damon, do you take Elena to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Damon said giving Elena a small wink, Elena's smile softened.

"I now pronounced you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Damon leaned forward and kissed Elena on the lips. At first she stiffened slightly, but her mouth relaxed slightly as she kissed him back. The guests around them cheered.

* * *

"One more, Mr. Salvatore tilt your head towards the left. Mrs. Salvatore get closer. Perfect." Pierre, the photographer smiled as Elena felt the white light of a camera. She blinked.

While the rest of the guests were enjoying cocktail hour, Damon and Elena were taking their wedding photos in the garden. Elena had relaxed a lot more since the ceremony she didn't know if it was because of the champagne or because she didn't have to see Damon's bitchy relatives anymore. "Perfect!" Pierre said. "Now I would like a few more by the cake and then you are free to go."

"Pierre," Lily said softly as she came towards them. She looked lovely in a yellow dress and beige high heels. Her dark hair was in a loose bun. Apparently good looks ran in the Salvatore family. Elena wondered if her child would have those same haunting blue eyes. "I would like a word with Elena if you wouldn't mind. Give her a few pointers about her make-up, we don't want her looking the same in every photo, do we? We can change her lipstick at least."

Pierre nodded. "As you wish, Mrs. Salvatore, Mr. Salvatore would you please join me I want to discuss lighting with you." Damon rolled his eyes, he obviously could care less, but followed Pierre towards the cake.

Elena looked at Lily trying to appear more confident. She had choosen a pale pink lipstick for the wedding. "Would you like me to change my lipstick? I think a red one would look better, Bonnie said that anyway."

"Your lipstick looks fine," Lily said as if should have been obvious. "That was just a distraction to keep the boys away."

"Oh," Elena's voice squeaked.

"Damon, told me that you almost changed your mind about the wedding?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because of some unkind things some relatives said." Elena did not respond and Lily shook her head. "Either way, you have to grow a thicker skin, Elena. When people see weakness they attack. That was one of the first things that I learned while starting my business. The Salvatore family is an important family and what Katherine and Rebekah say about you should be the least of your worries."

Elena coughed. "Thanks, is that all?"

"Not quite," her face softened. "I want to congratulate you, I didn't think you had it in you when you decided to play the marriage game when you decided to marry my son." Elena looked confused and she continued. "Elena, when I meet Giuseppe, I was poor. So poor that I had to work long hours in a factory, but I had my beauty. That is why Damon and Stefan's father married me and I only married him because he was rich and he promised to help me start my own business. We were married for 20 years and I don't think we had a single conversation. But I won at the marriage game and I think you will too if you play your cards right," she straightened Elena's necklace. "Now let's go take the pictures."

-End of Chapter Fifteen-


	17. PART SIXTEEN

**PART SIXTEEN**

"Elena, wake up."

Someone was shaking her awake and Elena didn't want to wake up. She was just so tired. The reception had been so tiring, there had been so many people-people that Elena did not know. Mostly business associates from the Salvatore family.

Elena's cheeks hurt from so much smiling. She briefly remembered she and Damon dancing and cutting the cake. What flavor had the cake been, strawberry or vanilla? She honestly couldn't remember. She remember throwing the bouquet and that Caroline had caught it.

Bonnie had giggled-whispered to her before she left back to medical school that she had seen Caroline and Klaus having drunk sex in one of the bathrooms. After that Elena had changed into a nice summer dress and then they got into a car and they headed towards the airport.

Damon and Elena were headed towards their honeymoon in Hawaii. Elena knew that she should be excited, she had never really gotten out of her small town of Mystic Falls. But for some reason she couldn't stop thinking about what Lily had told her, that Elena had won the game when it came to marriage.

That she herself had been in a similar position when she had married Damon's father and that neither of them had loved each other. Elena couldn't stop thinking about Lily's words. Did that mean that Elena was past Lily and that she was going to end up like her? Snobby and cold hearted?

Elena shook her head, of course not. She was nothing like Lily besides she and Damon were going to divorced as soon as their first baby was born and even with her new fortune there was no way that Elena was going to become Lily. She was determined not to be Lily.

"Elena," Damon's voice was a combination of tiredness and irritation. He didn't like sleeping on planes and he was exhausted. "Wake up."

Her brown eyes flew open as she stared at Damon sleepily, even though she had been asleep for most of the plane ride, she had not slept well. Elena rubbed her eyes and followed Damon out of the first class section of the plane.

Elena immediately felt the hot sun on her back when she exited the plane. "It's so hot," she said as she removed the yellow cardigan that she had gotten at the last minute. Damon smirked at the response. "It's Hawaii."

Elena rolled her eyes. "I know it's Hawaii, I just didn't think it would be so hot." Elena had gone outside of Mystic Falls a couple of times, but never to somewhere as nice as Hawaii. Elena glanced at her husband. Her husband, it felt weird saying that, but also kind of nice. Damon looked exhausted, but it still surprised Elena that he still managed to look handsome and be snarky.

It took almost an hour for Elena and Damon to get their bags and for them to get a rental car. "Where are we staying?" Elena asked curiously as they exited the airport parking lot in a bright yellow mini cooper. Damon had mostly kept the honeymoon a secret and even though they were married now, he hardly shared the details.

"It's a surprise," Damon said. "Now, don't be so impatient, Mrs. Salvatore, we'll get there soon."

Mrs. Salvatore. Elena couldn't help the smile on her face. She knew it was silly to get excited over a name that was only going to be temporary. It took them twenty more minutes before they reached their hotel.

Elena stared in wonder at the bright pink resort. It looked like a fairytale palace. "We're here." Damon said as he stared at Elena. "Do you like it?"

Elena practically squealed like a teenager. "I love it." Damon smiled as both of them went into the lobby. The manager, a pretty girl with dark hair checked them in since it was packed. "Aloha," she told them as Damon gave her their information as Elena looked around the beautiful hotel.

"We're in room 780." Damon said as he handed her the spare key. They were in the last floor and Damon casually mentioned that the room had a balcony. The bellboy led them to their room, hauling their suitcases behind.

"Wow, it's so beautiful," Elena practically squealed as they opened the door. It was a beautiful, large room decorated in shades of yellow and cream. There were fresh flowers everywhere and from the balcony Elena could see the pool and the ocean. Damon gave the bell boy a tip and he smiled.

He was glad that they were away from Mystic Falls and his meddling mom and devilish cousin. At least Elena and him could enjoy themselves now. Elena turned around in adorable innocence. "What are we going to do now?"

"I'm going to go sleep for a few hours." Damon said as he stretched. "I hate sleeping on planes, you little miss slept the entire ride over here. That's why you're not tired."

"It was a long wedding," she defended herself. "Besides I had to do hair and make up. The only thing that you had to do was put on a suit." She accused as Damon removed his tie and started removing his shirt as he stood in front of Elena shirtless.

Elena could feel herself blush as she stared at him. He was a very handsome man. "Do want you want, for the next few hours. Play in the pool, sightsee in the hotel, just don't leave it. We'll go to dinner tonight." Without another look towards her, he headed towards the adjoined room.

For the first time it occurred to Elena that they would be sharing a bedroom from now on since they were married. Not to mention that they had to have actual sex to make a baby. She heard Damon's light snores coming from the room. How could she have forgotten about the honeymoon part of the evening? That was what the honeymoon was for to have sex twenty-four seven!

Elena suddenly felt self-conscience about her thin frame. What if Damon didn't find her attractive enough? What if her boobs were too small? What if it hurt? What if she was bad at sex?

Her palms started sweating. Even though she was in her twenties she was still clueless about sex. She read a few steamy love novels from time to time, but of course that was not the same. She heard Caroline talking about sex, but Elena had always had second hand embarrassment and never asked her to elaborate. Now she wished that she had.

Elena picked up her phone and went to the internet tab. Elena sighed as she looked back at Damon who was casually sleeping. She doubted that Damon was thinking about the same problems that she had. Well, it seemed that it was time to do some internet search.

-End of Chapter Sixteen-

Thanks for your reviews!


	18. PART SEVENTEEN

PART SEVENTEEN

Elena couldn't believe that she had spent an hour alternating between reading parts of dirty romance novels and watching porn in silence trying to get together the whole gist of the honeymoon phrase. Damon of course wouldn't have any trouble at all, he had been fucking anything wearing a skirt since he was eighteen. The only thing that Elena had done before she had meet him was kiss her bathroom mirror and humping her pillow. She knew that porn wasn't exactly the best material to study, but she was running out of options.

"Elena?"

Elena flinched when she heard Damon's voice. Damon was standing there a few feet away from her. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his hair was messy and sexy. He looked at her confused. "Are you all right? You looked flushed, are you running a fever?"

"No," she said. "I was. . .it's just hot." Elena forced herself to smile. "Are you ready for dinner?" Damon nodded and told her to get dressed. Elena dressed in a short, silk blue dress and wore a pearl necklace. Damon was dressed in a simple blue button down shirt that matched Elena's dress and khaki pants.

"You look lovely," he said warmly. It seemed that whatever walls he had put surrounding himself were slowly coming down. Maybe because he was glad that the stress of the wedding was over. "Is there any place that you want to go to dinner?"

Elena paused. She had read a few travel blogs online about restaurants in Hawaii. Knowing Damon he would pick expensive restaurants that Elena had no desire to try. Besides she had learned that the smaller joints were much better. She hesitated for a bit, Damon would probably not even want to try it, being the fussy rich guy that he was. "I did find a good restaurant when I was looking through a couple of travel blogs. There was one that caught my interest called The Parrot."

Damon looked dumbfounded. "The Parrot? What does they offer?"

She flushed brightly. "Hot dogs and they have a bunch of unique sauces that you put on them like mango sauce and lemon and pineapple sauce." Damon looked at her strangely, probably wondering why they had gotten so dressed up to eat hot dogs. Much to his surprised, he agreed.

They reached The Parrot which was packed with a bunch of tourists who gave Elena and Damon a bunch of weird looks because they were dressed so fancy. A pretty dark hair woman led them to a small table. They each received a hot dog and the waitress encouraged them to go to the "sauce line."

There were dozens of sauces, some of them that Damon had no idea what they were and why they would even put them on a hot dog. One of them was a kiwi sauce, another one was made of grape, and another one was made of apple. "Are you sure that these are even edible?" Damon said under his breath.

"Just try one," Elena said as she added some sort of mango sauce. "If you don't like it they have some mustard and ketchup over there."

Damon finally agreed to add a sauce made up of strawberries. Elena watched him as he took a bite. "How was it?"

"It's not half bad actually." Damon said after taking two bites. Elena saw that he had some strawberry jam on his chin, Elena smiled as she wiped it away. "How's the mango?"

"A little too sweet," Elena said as she looked at the hot dog. "I might try the grape next."

"I just hope that we don't end up with an upset stomach."

* * *

Elena felt stuffed when they reached their hotel room. Much to her surprised and enjoyment they had, had an excellent dinner and it seemed that Damon had enjoyed himself. Now they were back in their hotel room and Elena felt her palms sweating.

They went back to their bedroom and Elena didn't know what to do, she tried to remember what she had read in her dirty romance novels, but she couldn't really remember. "Elena," Damon said with sympathy. "I know you're nervous, but I want you to relax. We'll go slow I promise."

Elena felt her cheeks flushed with both embarrassment and gratitude. "Thank you." Damon leaned over and kissed her softly until Elena relaxed. Damon pulled down the zipper of her dress and with trembling hands she unbuttoned Damon's shirt. She removed it slowly until it fell to the floor, when Damon finished unzipping her dress it fell to the floor in a pool of satin leaving her in just her light blue panties and matching push up bra. She was suddenly grateful that Caroline had insisted they go shopping for sexy underthings.

Elena could feel Damon's hardness pressing against her thigh, she could feel herself flushing with need. It was surprising that her nervousness had suddenly evaporated and all she wanted now was to be with Damon. "Are you ready?" Damon asked her.

Elena nodded slowly as she allowed herself to be taken to their bedroom.

* * *

Elena's eyes fluttered opened when she felt the warm sun hit her cheek. Was it morning already? She felt relaxed even though she did feel a little tender in her lady parts. Damon was sleeping next to her and she couldn't help but smile. Last night had been nice, not that there hadn't been any awkward moments. There had been plenty, especially since Elena felt like she was blushing all over the place.

But Damon had been true to his word and he had been patient and gentle. Elena had never realized how good an orgasm could be when it was delivered by another person. There was some blood on the sheets, but nothing too bad. Damon told her that the maid would come deliver new sheets.

Elena felt that their relationship had changed. They had become more intimate overnight and all the awkwardness that had occurred seemed to have left. She felt Damon stir next to her and Damon's blue eyes opened. He gave her a lazy smile. "Morning."

"Morning."

Damon motioned to her to come closer and Elena snuggled next to him feeling the warmness of his chest. He kissed the side of her forehead. "How did you sleep? Are you sore?"

"I'm fine and I slept great," she looked up at him. "Thank you for going slow last night."

Damon smirked. "My pleasure. I didn't even know you had it in you." Elena giggled and thought it would be best not to mentioned all of the advance planning that she had done beforehand. "What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know. Maybe go to the pool?"

"We could," Damon gave her a wicked smile as he started kissing her neck. "Or we can just stay here all morning."

-End of Chapter Seventeen-

Thank you for your reviews! Sorry that I haven't uploaded, school has been busy.


	19. PART EIGHTEEN

**PART EIGHTEEN**

The honeymoon ended much too fast for Elena's liking. Before she knew it she was back in Mystic Falls. Due to Damon's job they could only Honeymoon in Hawaii for one week and instead of trying the local cuisine or taking advantage of the beaches they spent their whole time having sex constantly.

After her first night Elena had been a bit tendered, but it had disappeared by evening though Elena had told Damon to take it slow. Elena had set up a whole plan for their visit to Hawaii after looking through hundreds of tour guide books and researching travel magazines.

But the entire thing had gone out the window when Elena had discovered sex. At first she had been embarrassed and self-conscience about her body, but Damon had a cocky personality and was so incredibly seductive that he made Elena forget her shyness. Elena found herself craving for him and if it were up to her, she would just be in bed with him all day.

They had spent a few days at the beach and gone to two museums, but they always found themselves back in their hotel bed. Now they were back in Mystic Falls and Damon was back at work and Elena was at her new home.

The house was beautiful and Damon had picked a beautiful house in the suburbs painted Elena's favorite shade of blue. It was a nice two story house with four bedrooms and it had a pretty nice garden. Damon had bought the furniture and portraits that hung on the walls.

Elena was a little annoyed that he chose things without consulting her, but after all she thought she would only be staying here for a little more than a year. The last thought made her unexpectently sad. She didn't know why exactly, if just did.

Elena sighed. She was bored. Being a housewife was boring, especially if she didn't have any children to take care of. Much of the stuff that Damon had bought was new so it didn't need that much cleaning.

She missed her photography class. Sure there had been a few snotty students here and there, but she had loved that class and her professor had told her that she had talent.

A thought entered her mind. She should have a blog. It would pass the time and it would allow her to continue posting pictures in order to get feedback from other people online. A blog would be nice. There she would be able to share her photos, perhaps have an advice column, and take about marriage and babies (not letting them know about the whole contract of course)

She smiled. A blog would be nice.

Before Elena knew it the whole afternoon had passed and Elena decided to take a break from blogging researching and decided to focus of dinner. They couldn't eat out every night and Elena was a little tired of restaurant food.

She wanted to make a nice dinner especially on their first night back. The problem was that Elena wasn't much of a cook. Even when she lived at alone, she mostly survived on take home dinners, salads, pastas, and sandwiches. Not exactly gourmet meals.

Still she wanted to do something nice for Damon. Besides there were hundreds of recipes on the internet. How hard could it be to cook a nice dinner?

* * *

Something was wrong.

Before Damon and Elena had left for their honeymoon he had hired an old German lady, Clara to come clean the house while they were away. She had left the house smelling like roses.

It had not smelled like that when he had kissed Elena goodbye that morning. But now it had a different sort of smell. Not burnt exactly, but not really pleasant. "Elena?" If Elena heard him, she didn't say anything. The house looked orderly enough.

Damon heard a couple of swear words after he approached the kitchen. When he did he didn't know if he should be alarmed or if he should be laughing. There was some kind of batter all over the floor and tomato sauce on the kitchen cabinets. Bread rolls were burnt and Elena was stirring something on a pot. Damon guessed it was beef stew because he saw huge chunks of meat and a couple of baby carrots.

Elena wiped a piece of loose hair from her face and she looked near tears. She jumped slightly when she saw Damon. "I didn't see you there."

"Obviously," Damon tried hard not to laugh, not wanting to embarrass her. "What are you making?"

"What I am trying to make," Elena corrected sounded frustrated. "Some kind of Italian beef stew. I looked it up online it didn't seem that hard, but now," she gave an exhausted sigh. "It seems I am way out of my league."

"Here let me help." he took the spoon from her. It really wasn't that bad, they just needed to add a few spices and break down the meat using the spoon. Damon added a bit of pepper.

Elena looked at him, slightly impressed. "You know how to cook?"

"I can handle the kitchen, much better than you can it seems," Damon said teasing her slightly. "Why don't you set the table? I'll finish this."

Elena looked relieved to leave the messy kitchen. The stew was done in less than an hour and when Damon was done, Elena couldn't believe that he had actually fixed it. "This is delicious." She said as she tasted a bit of the meat. "You actually fixed my mess."

"It wasn't that bad." Damon said kindly. "It just needed a few adjustments. Besides I lived with Stefan when we were both in college and he was practically Gordon Ramsey, you should thank him. What's the occasion?"

"I wanted to do something nice. Besides, I was tired of eating restaurant food. Just because we're married and our honeymoon is over doesn't mean that we can't do nice things for each other."

Damon smiled. "That's true. So it will benefit us both if we played nice. Just don't destroy my kitchen in the meantime."

"Our kitchen," Elena corrected. "And I will get better at the cooking thing don't worry about that." She said bravely. "I'm starting a blog, you know to pass the time and maybe show people some of my photos now that my photography class is over."

Damon nodded. "That's great. Stefan mentioned that your pictures were fantastic, any idea of the pictures that you want to take?"

Elena shrugged as she reached for a piece of bread. "I have no idea. All I know is that I want them to be good."

Damon raised his wine glass slightly. "As the princess wishes it."

-End of Chapter Eighteen-

Thanks for your reviews!


	20. PART NINETEEN

**PART NINETEEN**

"Do I have to hang out with your mom and Rebekah today?" Elena said nervously as she looked at Damon who was in the driver's seat of the car. It was the first Saturday after their return from their honeymoon and the first time that she was going to hang out with the mother in law and cousin from hell. Would it kill the Salvatores to have someone normal in their family every once in a while?

"You must be bored in the house, babe," Damon said as he looked at her. They were driving towards a photography studio. Lily was supervising a couple of models who were trying on the latest wedding dresses from her collection. Lily was a perfectionist, Damon told her and the models weren't leaving until Lily deemed that the pictures were worthy of her collection. "And I thought you could spend some time with my mom and Rebekah. I know my mom can be a little scary, but she is not that bad. You meet Rebekah at the wedding, didn't you like her? Besides I worry about you being at home all day and I'm going to be at court all day today."

"It's not that," Elena trailed off. What was she supposed to say that Lily and Rebekah seemed like they were straight from hell. "It's just-" she trailed off, not sure what to say. Damon looked at her with concern, but didn't press for answers. He dropped Elena off and promised to pick her up later and that then he would take all of them out for dinner. Elena agreed, but she felt numb as she went inside. She really didn't want to be here.

The place seemed empty and there was some catchy pop song playing in the background. Elena saw a redheaded model wearing a long, tight wedding dress. She seemed to be arguing with the hair dresser.

Elena saw Rebekah standing near the background where the photos were supposed to take place. The blond was holding a Starbucks coffee cup in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She quickly hung up when she saw Elena and stared at her. "What are you doing here?" she asked rudely.

Elena shifted slightly in her booties, but she narrowed her eyes at her. She would not allow herself to be intimidated by Rebekah. She learned the hard way back in high school that if she let someone intimidate her then they would use that to their advantage. "Damon, brought me here. I'm interested in the wedding industry," she lied. The last thing that she wanted to admit to Rebekah was that Damon had dropped her off because he felt sorry for her because she had very few friends and hobbies. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Well, unless you can whip out a photographer out of thin air don't bother. The idiot photographer cancelled, he accidently ran over his cat or something and Lily doesn't have a backup. As if we weren't already running behind schedule."

"Are you helping Lily out too?"

"I'm not helping Lily out, dummy. I'm trying to get my own work done," Rebekah said. "I am the editor of Lace, a wedding magazine and the shoot was supposed to be done yesterday, but here we are because the stupid photographer cancelled again."

"Rick, cancelled again?" Lily came in sounding irritated. "What was his excuse this time? I'm going to have to fire that man. This is the fourth time that he's cancelled."

"Can't you just get another photographer, I need to have this done today, Aunt Lily."

"At this hour? And someone who is decent? I doubt it."

"I can do it," the words slipped out of Elena's mouth before she could stop them. Both women turned to stare at her and Elena noticed that she had no way to back out of her offer. She took a deep breath. The worst thing that they could say was no and Elena already knew that these women hated her anyway. "I took a photography class and I'm pretty good. I can take the pictures you need and they will be ready. If you don't like them, then you don't have to use them-but it will mean that you will have your pictures ready for your shoot. Do you have a camera and some editing equipment such as a computer that I could use?"

Lily nodded. "We do have an extra camera and all the editing tools."

Rebekah didn't look too convinced. "Are you sure that you're going to be able to do this? This is a very popular magazine that we're talking about. We don't have time for amateurs, Elena."

"And I won't give you amateurs work." Elena said firmly. "Just give me an opportunity, please."

Rebekah pursed her lips and nodded. "Fine, but you better not screw it up."

For the next two hours Elena worked as hard as she possibly could. She directed the models in the poses that they should take with the help of Rebekah. She made sure that the pictures were clear and beautiful and made sure that the dresses stood out.

The clicking sounds of the camera made Elena's heartbeat relax and she felt more confident as each picture was taken. She took the last picture and smiled. "We're done." She told the skinny blond model that reminded Elena of a fairy. "We're done. Thank you."

She showed the pictures to Lily and Rebekah. "This is what the pictures will look like. I'll need to do some light editing, but it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

Lily nodded, looking satisfied at the result. The worry lines on her forehead seemed to have disappeared. "They look beautiful, Elena you did a wonderful job."

"You saved my life and my job," Rebekah squealed as she hugged Elena tightly taking her by surprise. "Thank you. After you finish editing I am going to invite you to dinner, my treat."

"You're welcome," for the first time since she had entered the building a smile appeared on her face. "Damon said that he was going to take all of us out for dinner though."

"Screw Damon." Rebekah said. "It will be just us girls. I have a bottle of red wine with your name on it."

* * *

". . .and Rebekah and I drank the whole bottle of wine, I honestly didn't think that I could do it. I normally only have one glass, but it was so good. Rebekah, was so nice to me. She wasn't nice to me at all on the day of the wedding, but tonight she was nice. She's really sweet too and funny. She made me laugh so many times-"

"Sweetheart, slow down." Damon said laughing. He was sitting on the couch and working on his laptop and Elena was babbling to him from the kitchen. "You're so excited that I can barely understand you. So I assume that everything went good?"

"It went perfect. The pictures came out nice." There was a relaxed smile on her face. She went towards him and sat on his lap. Damon wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. "Today was a good day."

Damon kissed her. "I'm glad of that."

-End of Chapter Nineteen-

Thank you to everyone and their kind reviews!


	21. PART TWENTY

**PART TWENTY**

"Caroline, you're going to be joining us too?" Elena asked in surprise. It had been surprising enough that once cold hearted Rebekah had asked Elena out to lunch, but it had been even more surprising when she had seen a familiar blond next to her.

Caroline squealed, "Surprise!"

"Caroline," Elena smiled as she hugged the overexcited blond. "What are you doing here? This is quite the surprise."

"Rebekah invited me over actually," Caroline said looking at the other blond. "I got off work early to come and celebrate."

"Celebrate what exactly?"

Rebekah snapped her fingers and a waiter quickly brought over a bottle of champagne. "Elena, how could you not remember? Today has been officially one month since your wedding." Rebekah started pouring champagne. "And that's very important. It means that you survived a month of marriage which is not a small feat. Especially where Damon is concern because, bless him he has the attention span of a fish when it comes to women."

Caroline took the glass of champagne and handed it to Elena. "So best friend, let's celebrate your one month anniversary with style."

"I appreciate all of this," Elena said. "But shouldn't Damon be here, I mean he is the second half of this marriage."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Believe me, my cousin shouldn't be here. I love him, but he can be a know it all jerk. It's better when it's just us girls, don't you agree Caroline?"

Caroline nodded as she took a sip of her own drink. "I agreed whole heartedly. So sit down Elena and relax and let us toast your one month of marriage."

Elena smiled as she took her own glass and clicked it against the girls' "To my one month of marriage." After toasting the two girls quickly ordered lunch.

Elena was halfway through her eggplant parmesan when Caroline blurted out. "So, Elena I've been meaning to ask. It's no secret that you were a virgin when you married Damon. So spill how is the sex life?"

Elena nearly choked on her food, she glared at Caroline. "Care!" she gave Rebekah an apologetic look. "Rebekah, is Damon's cousin and I'm sure that she doesn't want to hear about my sex life with her cousin."

Rebekah looked at her lazily. "Oh, I don't care honestly. Besides I play for the other team, so unless you have some hot lady friends, blabber away about my cousin. Besides I lost my virginity back in junior year of high school. It would be nice to get the perspective of a virgin that waited until marriage."

Elena flushed red with embarrassment and she wanted to crawl under the table. "It really is not that interesting."

Rebekah rolled her eyes as she filled another glass with champagne. "Oh, come on, Elena don't give us that crap. You were a poor, innocent virgin and my cousin is the town whore. Are you actually telling me that nothing, absolutely nothing has happened? Do you think that we're dumb?"

"I didn't say that," Elena flushed red and she wanted to crawl under the table. She looked over her shoulder to make sure that none of the other customers were listening, but they all seemed preoccupied in their boring conversation. "Our first time, well Damon and I-" she started stuttering, "well, it was fine. He was patient and a very fine teacher and it's none of your business."

Both girls burst into giggles. "I think we should give her a break, Bekah." Caroline said. "We're embarrassing her."

"Alright," Rebekah agreed. "But I think that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Damon looked up from his novel to look at his wife who was sitting down next to him on the bed.

"I'm working on my blog," Elena murmured, never once looking away from her computer. She had decided that her blog was mostly going to be a collection of photographs, advice columns, and just something that young wives and mothers could look forward too. "It just needs a few touches." She was suddenly glad that she had taken computer courses in high school and had actually paid attention to them.

Damon looked at her web page with curiosity. Elena had chosen a very feminine pattern for her background. It was an icy blue with orange and yellow flowers. She had decided to include a introduction page in where she would tell her viewers a little about herself, but she didn't know what to include yet. "What did you decide to name your blog?"

Elena smiled at him. She had thought for hours for the perfect name, but she hadn't known what to put. She finally managed something that she remembered from her Occult's elective class that Bonnie had forced her to take. "The Doppelganger."

* * *

The next morning Elena woke up her to her phone buzzing. She ignored it, the last thing that she needed was to wake up early in the morning. Thankfully, it was Saturday and Damon had the day off.

She snuggled next to Damon and Damon leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "What should we do today?"

"I don't know what do you have planned?" Elena inquired. Damon mentioned that there would be a food festival downtown and if she wanted to go to that. Elena agreed. She wanted some decent food for a change.

She had been trying her best to cook a decent meal and her efforts were slowly improving. Thankfully, Damon was being a good sport about it. Elena was craving something sweet and maybe the cooks from the food festival could give her a tip or two. "That would be nice."

"Perfect." Damon said. "Get dressed then, I'm going to hop in the shower."

Elena nodded as she went to grab a pair of jeans and a cardigan from her closet. She quickly put on her clothes and grabbed her phone to see what all the fuss was about. Elena had a few emails indicating that she had new followers on her blog, The Doppelganger.

Elena had posted the first part yesterday. It had not been a lot, it had just been a small introduction and the pictures that she had taken of the wedding dresses (she had been allowed to post it with Lily and Rebekah's permission.)

She had 34 followers. Elena let out a small giggle of hope. Damon had turned the shower off. Elena knew that they weren't a lot of followers, but it was a start. With luck she would get a few more before her next post.

-End of Chapter Twenty-

Thank you for your reviews!


	22. PART TWENTY-ONE

**PART TWENTY-ONE**

Three weeks later Elena received a surprising call from Lily at her home. She hadn't been expecting to see her mother in law again so soon, especially since she wasn't sure if the dark haired beauty even liked Elena.

Lily had congratulated Elena on marrying for money and a good family name like she had done and she had been grateful for Elena's help when she had helped Rebekah. But that did not mean that Lily approved of her or that she even liked Elena.

"Lily," Elena said weakly when she saw Lily on her doorstep. She almost groaned, but she didn't want to be rude. "This is a surprise, what are you doing here?"

"I won't stay long," Lily said as she stepped inside, almost as if she could read Elena's mind. "I just came to offer you a proposition."

Elena frowned. "A proposition?" she didn't think she had anything that Lily Salvatore would be interested in. Lily smiled at her as if Elena were a Golden Globe winner. "What kind of proposition?"

"I was pleased with how you handled Rebekah's dilemma when she needed a photographer," Lily said. "And your pictures turned out beautiful and were well liked by the public. I would like to offer you a job as a photographer for my company."

Elena gaped at her, she didn't think she would ever hear those words coming from Lily's mouth. It almost seemed too good to be true. "Me? You want me to be a photographer for your wedding emporium? Me? Are you serious?"

Lily laughed, she seemed almost amused at Elena's reaction. "Yes, of course I am serious. We bring out four catalogues a year in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. We are a fast paced company, Elena so we are constantly getting new pictures. Often if I don't like the models or how the shoot is going there is a reshoot. So, like I said a very fast paced company Elena. Would you be interested?"

"Wow," Elena stared at her. Her mind was racing. "I don't know what to say." She had already made a nice amount of money from the photoshoot that she had done with Rebekah and Lily's company was well know so surely she would be getting a little extra money if she worked with Lily.

As much as she liked this fantasy world that she was living with Damon, they had signed a contract and as soon as their baby was born, he would get his inheritance and he would ask for a divorce. Having that money would be nice for a raining day. She doubted that Damon would care if she took some pictures for Lily. After all, he was the one that wanted her to get along better with his mother.

"So?" Lily prompted. "What do you say, Elena?"

Elena smiled at her. "Alright, I'll do it."

* * *

Elena sniffed the air. It still smelled like the burnt toast from his morning. She could feel her face turning red. What kind of person burnt toast anyway? This had been the third time that Elena had burned breakfast. Thankfully, Damon was a good sport about it.

She dropped the remaining burnt breakfast in the trash and started cleaning the kitchen. Lily had sent her, her work schedule and the next photo shoot wasn't until two weeks later, so Elena had plenty of time to work on her blog and talk to Lily about the kind of shoot that she wanted. She wondered if she should buy a new camera.

Her eyes caught her small puppy calendar that she had gotten from the grocery store. There was a big red dot on the 15th. That had been almost two weeks ago. Her period should have come on the 15th. She had never been late before.

It took a moment for her to realize what had happened. She was late. Her period was almost two weeks late. Could she have possibly gotten pregnant already?

Elena tried to think back to see if she had noticed anything different, but she hadn't. She had actually been feeling happier. She grabbed her keys. She needed to head over to the pharmacy.

* * *

"It could be nothing you know," Bonnie said on the other end. Elena was currently sitting in her car in the parking lot at CVS. Three different brands of pregnancy tests were all on her lap. She had even called Bonnie, as a medical student she probably knew more about this stuff that Elena would have ever known. "There are dozens of reasons of why you could have missed your period weight gain, stress, depression-"

"But I haven't had any of those things," Elena said. "My life has strangely gotten better since I married Damon and I've never been later, so Bonnie do you think that there's a chance-"

"Yes," Bonnie admitted. "There is a chance, do you want me to wait while you take the test."

Elena shook her head. "No that's silly. Besides you probably have tests that you need to study for."

"I do," Bonnie admitted. "But text me when you receive the news."

"I will. Thanks, Bon."

Elena drove home and immediately locked herself in the bathroom and pulled down her pants and panties down. She forced herself to pee on the stick. Elena played with her phone for a few nervous minutes while she waited for the results.

She took the pregnancy stick and saw the pink plus sign on it. She was pregnant.

* * *

"You know for a criminal attorney you are rather stupid." Damon told his brother.

Stefan looked at his brother exhausted. "Why? I have practically won the case, Mrs. Richardson has provided enough evidence of domestic abuse. The guy is a complete asshole."

"A very powerful, very wealthy asshole," Damon said as he looked over the papers. "That's the only reason that his ass isn't sitting in jail right now. Why do you think you're taking over the case instead of a divorce attorney? This guy is bad news."

"The guy is on house arrest, no internet service and no phone connections not until the trial," Stefan explained. "He won't hurt a fly." Damon looked doubtful.

"Damon! Damon!" Damon could hear Elena squeal as she opened the door and she came in. She was grinning, and her face looked flushed. She rushed towards him and hugged him. "I'm pregnant, Damon. I'm pregnant."

Damon blinked at her. His arms felt weak. "Are you serious? That was fast."

Elena nodded, she could barely contain her joy. "Are you happy?" Damon responded by spinning her around the room.

-End of Chapter Twenty-One-

Thank you for your reviews! I'm sorry for not updating. I've been busy with school and I've been feeling sick.


	23. PART TWENTY-TWO

**PART TWENTY-TWO**

"I got you a present." Damon said the next morning as Elena was flipping pancakes on the stove (she had finally managed to make pancakes without burning them.) Elena stared in curiosity as she looked at the blue box in Damon's hand. It looked like a Tiffany box.

"What is it?" Elena asked followed by a "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know I didn't," he pushed the box forward. "Here. Open it."

Curiosity got the best of Elena and before she protested any further she opened the small box. Inside was a charm bracelet. There were five charms on the bracelet. One was a stork carrying a baby, the second one was of a rattle, the third one of a baby bottle, the last two were of the letters E and D. Elena smiled in glee as Damon fasten the bracelet around her thin wrist. "Damon, the bracelet is beautiful. It's so original."

Damon seemed pleased. "I'm glad you like it, I had to search all of Tiffany's for something that wasn't a diamond, but it was worth it. What are your plans for today?"

"Well, I don't plan on working for your mother until next week at the earliest, so I thought that I would go and tell my parents about the baby. You should tell your mother."

Damon rolled her eyes. "Please, I want to avoid my mother as much as possible. Besides I thought you two were besties now."

"She and I are getting along better now, but we are not besties. Besides I had enough of your mother to last me all week. It's your turn to deal with her."

Damon winked at her as he grabbed his suitcase. "Who knows maybe Stefan already dealt with her. He's such a Mama's boy."

Elena rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't tease your brother, he can have quite a temper."

Damon snorted. "I can handle, Stefan. Are you sure that you don't want me to go with you, we could tell your parents together?"

Elena shook her head as she kissed the tip of his nose catching him by surprise. "No, I would rather do it myself. I'll tell you how they reacted later."

Elena smiled as she winked at him and grabbed her purse.

* * *

"I'm pregnant."

Both Miranda and Grayson looked up from their glasses of ice tea. Much to Elena' s disappointment they didn't look glad at the prospect of their future grandchild. They looked panicked as if Elena had told them that she would be going to jail next week.

"Already," Miranda's eyes fluttered as she looked at her husband. Grayson looked at the floor. "My that certainly. . .so soon. You and Damon work quite fast. We didn't expect that you would get pregnant so quickly-"

"Elena," Grayson said. He sounded both annoyed and tired. "You do know that this will make it harder to make a career, to make something out of yourself. Children and parenting is hard and it will change you and Damon's life forever."

"I know that," Elena's voice was quiet. "But Damon and I wanted a baby as soon as possible and it finally happened-can't you be happy for me?"

Miranda squeezed Grayson's hand. "We are happy for you, Elena. Daddy and I are just a little concerned that you have not reach your full potential."

"That's right," Grayson huffed. "Elena, you haven't showed any ambition since high school. You are a smart girl and you got good grades, you could have been something more, but instead you just waited for your prince charming. Life isn't a fairytale, Elena and you shouldn't expect it to be."

"I know it isn't," Elena said tightly. "But I wish you would just be happy for me. I'm happy. Damon's happy. Why does anything else matter? Just because I don't fit into the role that you wanted me to fit into, doesn't mean that I am a disappointment, Daddy. I think I better go."

"Elena, your father-"

Elena interrupted her mother. "Oh, and I got a job as a photographer. Lily got it for me."

She left the house and Elena could briefly hear her mother scolding her father. "Why would you tell her something like that? You know how sensitive she is."

Elena could feel the tears threatening to fall. She hated disappointed her parents. She hated not being this ambitious, successful daughter they wanted and that they could brag about. She was just Elena.

So what if she didn't go to college or had a successful career. She was happy and that was all that really mattered. She was happy with Damon, with her life and with her future baby.

* * *

Elena tried to remove the sting that she still felt in her heart after her and her parents' conversation. She printed a recipe for orange chicken and then went towards her blog, The Doppelganger. She smiled when she saw the red numbers on the left side of the screen 750 followers

Elena decided to start typing her newest article: The Joy of the First Born.

* * *

Damon sniffed the air as he came in. It smelled like orange chicken and it didn't smell burnt. It actually smelled good. Damon felt relieved that this time dinner wouldn't be burnt. Elena's cooking had slowly gotten better and this time it seemed like it would actually be edible. "I'm home." Damon said.

"I'm here!" Elena called out. She sounded cheerful and Damon assumed that her parents had taken the news positively which was good. Damon wasn't sure yet if her parents liked him.

Damon went towards the kitchen. Elena was pouring orange sauce over the chicken. Her dark brown hair was in a messy bun and the two upper buttons of her blouse were undone so Damon could see the top parts of her breasts.

She smiled at him, her lips seemed extra pink today and glossy. No doubt that either Caroline or Rebekah had encouraged her to wear gloss or lipstick or whatever it was. Whatever it was, it was driving Damon crazy.

He wanted to kiss her. To run his hands all over her body. He wanted to make her laugh and smile at him. She just seemed extra beautiful lately.

"Dinner will be ready in a few-"

Elena didn't even finish her sentence, Damon leaned over and kissed her passionately on the lips as he caressed her neck. Elena, though surprised at first returned the kiss, running her fingers through his dark hair.

Damon pulled her down on the kitchen floor as gently as he could and tore off her blouse not caring about the fabric. Elena's cheeks were flushed, and a playful smile was on her face. _Do it,_ her innocent brown eyes seemed to say as Damon caressed her cheek and her hand intertwined with his.

-End of Chapter Twenty-Two-

Thank you for your kind reviews!


	24. PART TWENTY-THREE

**PART TWENTY-THREE**

Damon looked at Elena who was jumping on her tippy toes and putting her hair in a ponytail and then releasing her hair again. Damon rolled his eyes as he slapped her hand slightly away. "Stop fidgeting, you are going to get checked out for your first ultrasound. You are not going to rob a bank."

"Something tells me that robbing a bank would be easier," Elena snapped and then she softened when she saw Damon raise an eyebrow. "Sorry, I'm just nervous."

"It's ok. It's going to be ok," Maybe Elena's nervousness was rubbing off on him. Jesus. There was only one room for a worrywart in their relationship. They entered the small private practice. His mom had recommended Dr. Young to them. Apparently she had graduated from Harvard or Yale or some Ivy League school.

A big chested receptionist handed them a few forms to fill out and told them that Dr. Young would be with them soon. Damon and Elena sat in silence. Damon fiddled with his phone while Elena tried to remember her social security number.

Ten minutes later a nurse took them to one of the rooms that was painted baby blue and had pictures of baby zoo animals all over the pastel walls. Damon whistled. "Well, this isn't creepy at all."

Elena giggled as she shushed him. "Be quiet they'll hear you."

"There's no one here."

"Still, I don't want to make a bad impression."

Twenty seconds later a short doctor with red hair and blue eyes came into the room holding a clipboard. She gave them a big smile. "Hello, my name is Dr. Young and you must be Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore. You are here for your first ultrasound and check up, correct?"

Elena nodded, too shy to say anything. Dr. Young asked her a bunch of questions about how she was feeling and then she put some cool gel on Elena's stomach as she pressed the sonogram tool on her belly. Elena grew slightly uncomfortable at the pressure, but the doctor said that it was normal. "There do you see that, that's your baby." She pointed to the screen.

Damon frowned. "I don't see anything."

Dr. Young laughed. "Well, it is still a little early in the pregnancy, you're 1 ½ months pregnant. The pictures will become clearer in the next few months. I'm going to give you a few vitamins, but you're the picture of health. Excuse me."

Damon kissed the side of her forehead. "See, I told you, you had nothing to worry about."

* * *

"Stefan is not going to like this."

"I know isn't it great."

"You're cruel."

Elena had relaxed ever since her doctor's appointment had been over. After her appointment, she and Damon were going to a restaurant for Stefan's impromptu surprise birthday party. Elena had thought that they would go to a regular restaurant instead they were standing in front of a restaurant with a bright orange sign. Elena saw a girl in mini short shorts smoking a cigarette. "Can you tell me again what we are doing a Hooters?"

"I told you, Elena to celebrate Stefan's birthday." He grinned at her.

"I've known your brother for a few years, I doubt that Stefan has even parked in the Hooters parking lot, let alone actually go in." Elena said flatly. Stefan was a nice guy, but he was a little uptight and no doubt that Damon was doing this to torture his younger brother. "How did Stefan even agree to do this?"

"His friend Lexi is bringing him. Well I guess she's his girlfriend now, it's complicated."

"Stefan has friends?" she blurted out.

"Friend and girlfriend." He corrected. "He and Lexi have been best friends since they were in diapers, they got together when you friend Caroline broke up with him. She's going to bring him blindfolded so that he can't make a fuss. Once he's here, he will have no other choice, but to stay."

Elena and Damon waited in front of the restaurant for a few minutes until a red car appeared in front of the parking lot at Hooters. A tall, beautiful blond stepped out of the car wearing a black leather skirt. She smiled as she helped Stefan get out of the car, he was wearing a blue blindfold over his eyes. "Lexi," Stefan sighed. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Lexi said giggling. She untied the blindfold. "Ta da!"

Stefan blinked a few times and then he groaned. "Oh, what the hell are we doing here, Lexi!"

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper little brother especially since I put so much effort in your birthday party." Damon smiled.

Stefan rolled his eyes as he glared at his brother. "So, I see that this is your doing."

"Yep, so you better enjoy it." Damon winked as he pushed Elena slightly. "Lexi, this is my wife Elena."

Lexi winked at Elena as she shook her hand filled with glee. "So I finally get to meet with the famous, Elena. I never thought Damon Salvatore would get married, lucky you."

Elena smiled at her, Lexi's bubbly personality was contagious. "It's nice to meet you too."

Stefan asked them. "How was the sonogram?"

"You're pregnant?" Lexi asked with a raised eyebrow. "That was fast."

"Lexi," Stefan sighed.

"What?" Lexi pouted. "I was just curious, relax Stef. This isn't the middle ages no one is going to stone Elena to death if she got pregnant before-"

"Can we go inside? I'm starving." Elena blurted out. She didn't want to discuss her and Damon's sex life in the Hooters parking lot. Stefan let himself be dragged inside by Lexi, Elena felt pity for him, but she doubted that she would be able to fight with Lexi and Damon about going to someplace else. They seemed pretty determine to torture Stefan.

A busty blond in orange shorts led them towards their small table. Stefan stared at the floor as the chirpy blond assured them that their drinks would be ready soon. "So Stefan how old are you turning?"

"Twenty-seven." Stefan gave her a rueful smile. "I'm heading down the path of middle ages."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic. I'm 27 too, you're making me feel old."

"What did you actually want to do for your birthday?"

Stefan shrugged as he pretended to look at a menu. "Not much, maybe head out to California. See the wine country. Maybe do some fishing."

"That sounds like fun," Lexi blurted out almost desperately. "I love wine, do you love wine, Elena?"

"I used to drink a little." Elena said. She wondered why Lexi sounded so agitated. "I don't much now since I became pregnant."

Damon cleared his throat. "I think we should order."

Stefan murmured. "Good idea, then we can get out of here."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Three-

Thank you for your reviews!


	25. PART TWENTY-FOUR

**PART TWENTY-FOUR**

Elena had forgotten her sweater at Hooters after that disastrous birthday dinner and Lexi had called her and told her to come over so that she could pick it up at her house. Lexi opened the door when Elena came over one afternoon.

"Thank you for picking up my sweater," Elena said. "I can't believe that I forgot it."

Lexi shook her head as she gave Elena back her pink sweater. "It's no problem," Lexi hesitated. "Elena, would you mind coming inside with me for a second? I need to ask you for a favor if you don't mind."

She grew confused, but did as she was told. Lexi lived in a small, one story house that she mentioned that her grandma had left her. The place smelled like vanilla and the scent was so strong that Elena hoped that her morning sickness didn't decide to act up, otherwise she would end up vomiting over Lexi's beige carpet.

Lexi handed her a cup of strawberry lemonade which seemed to help a little. Elena sat on the white couch, careful not to spill her lemonade. "What favor did you want to ask me, Lexi?"

Lexi smiled at her as she giggled nervously. "Well, I don't know how to start exactly. I don't know if it was obvious, but me and Stefan. Well, me and Stefan's relationship has been on the rocks as of late. I feel that we are growing distant you know, do you ever feel that way with Damon."

"Um," Elena didn't know if this was the best time to tell her that Damon had basically ignored her until he had asked her to marry him so that he could get his inheritance.

Lexi thankfully didn't wait for Elena to answer. "I just think that maybe if Stefan and I spice up our sex lives then maybe our relationship would improve." She raised an eyebrow. "I mean it's worth a shot. You are married, what do you think?"

Elena shifted uncomfortably. "It's worth a shot, what do you think? What are you planning to do?"

Lexi smiled at her. "I was planning on doing something sexy, trying to get Stefan in the mood for you know, sex." She cleared her throat. "Stefan mentioned that you helped Mrs. Salvatore and Rebekah with a photo shoot for a couple of wedding dresses, so that must mean that your pictures came out good."

Elena shrugged. "I guess. I mean I'm not a professional nor do I like to brag. But yes they came out pretty good."

"No bragging is good," Lexi said. "I need you to brag Elena, because that's the favor that I want to ask you, I want you to do a photoshoot of me."

Elena relaxed slightly. "Oh, of course, Lexi I would be happy do it for you."

Lexi gave her a sheepish smile. "No, you're not understanding. I want you to do a photoshoot of me naked."

Elena turned red and she started stammering. "Wow, a naked photoshoot. I wasn't-I don't think-"

"Please, Elena say that you will do it," Lexi gave her big, puppy dog eyes. "I'm sure a naked photoshoot will spice up the relationship between me and Stefan. You're the only photographer I know. I would be too shy to ask anyone else. Please tell me that you will do it, please, please."

Elena sighed after a few minutes. "Fine, I'll do it."

* * *

Elena jumped slightly when a small piece of rice hit her on the cheek. She looked up from where Damon was eating Chinese take-out. Elena scowled as she wiped the rice from her cheek and flickered a piece of orange chicken towards Damon, but he somehow managed to catch it with his chopsticks.

"What are you thinking about? You've been so spacy all through dinner?"

"It's nothing," Elena played with her orange chicken. She could feel her cheeks turning pink. "I was just-I went to Lexi's house to pick up my sweater and she asked me for a favor. That's all. I'm just thinking about it."

Damon looked confused. "Aren't you thinking about this a little too hard over a favor?"

"It wasn't just a regular favor." Elena said feeling uncomfortable.

"What did Lexi ask you to do?" Damon joked. "Rob a bank?"

Elena didn't say anything.

"Wait, are you serious?"

Elena's brown eyes flickered. "What? No, she didn't ask me to rob a bank." She flushed. "You're going to laugh at me and she made me promise that I wouldn't say anything. She made me swear to secrecy."

Damon looked amused. "Sworn to secrecy, huh? Are you sure that you don't want to spill, it will make you feel better." He smiled at her. "Come on, Elena you know that you want to."

"Fine," Elena huffed. "Do you promise that you are not going to laugh?"

"Scouts honor."

His wife huffed. "You were never a boy scout."

"Spill."

"Lexi wants me to take nude photos of her for Stefan," she blurted out. "They've been having relationship problems and Lexi thinks that this might help them spice things up in their relationship."

Damon burst out laughing and Elena huffed. "Don't laugh. I said yes, ok. The poor thing seemed so desperate."

"I doubt nudes is going to solve their relationship problems," Damon mused. "From what Stefan has told me their relationship is basically done."

Elena sighed as she played with her food. She suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. "It doesn't hurt to try is it?"

* * *

"You're a genius and I'm sorry that I ever doubted you." Rebekah said as she put down Elena's pictures that she had taken during their first ever photoshoot. "You had a 95% approval with editors and ad campaigns."

Elena took a sip of her coffee and frowned. "Who are the other 5%?"

"It doesn't matter," Rebekah took a bite of her bagel and then looked at her watch. "Anyway, we are going to move the shoot up. Thanks to your little pictures our sales are doing better than ever. You don't mind, do you?"

Elena shook her head. She could rearrange the shoot with Lexi. "I don't mind. I think it would be better to get it out of the way so that I could focus on the editing. If you don't like it then we will have ample time to reshoot."

Rebekah winked at her. "I like your thinking. Does Thursday at 7am work for you?" Elena nodded. She was going to do Lexi's photoshoot on Tuesday so she could spend all of Wednesday editing. "That works for me."

Rebekah smiled. "Perfect. I'm going to make you a star, Elena."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Four-

Thank you for your reviews!


	26. PART TWENTY-FIVE

**PART TWENTY-FIVE**

Elena took a deep breath to calm herself. She was carrying her camera in her hands trying to convince herself that doing a nude photoshoot on Lexi was not the stupidest thing that she had ever done. Elena had never even taken naked photos of anyone, let alone done it professionally. What if Lexi hated it? What if Elena acted like a fumbling idiot because she didn't know how to act around a naked, confident woman.

Elena bit her lip. She just had to bite the bullet.

She knocked on the door of Lexi's house and an overexcited blond answered the door. "Elena, come in, come in." Lexi was wearing a bright pink robe that was too small across the chest. "Come in, come in. You're just in time."

"Time for what?" Elena raised an eyebrow as Lexi dragged her towards the living room. The room smelled like vanilla candles and there was a white rug in the middle of the living room and Lexi had moved the couches around. "Wow, Lexi you really decorated the place. Um, what exactly did you have planned."

Lexi fumbled with her blond hair, "Well, I have a few ideas planned, nothing concreate though. I want something soft and sexy. You know like Rose in Titanic. Like I'm sexy, but I'm not trying too hard."

Elena had no idea what that meant, but in all honesty she didn't want to ask. Instead she watched as Lexi fumbled a bit trying to rearranged the carpet, pillows, and an assortment of candles in a "sexy" way while Elena fumbled with her camera.

After what seemed like hours Lexi placed herself in the middle of the carpet on the floor. She had a huge smile on her face. God, she really was beautiful. She started removing her robe slowly until it fell to the ground. "Ok, I'm ready. Shoot away."

* * *

The flash of the camera blinded Elena and she could feel her arms getting tired as she moved them, trying to get the best position. In front of her was a thin model with ashy blond hair wearing a princess ball gown type of dress with too much tulle.

Elena continued clicking away until Lily yelled, "Stop." Lily turned to the model. "Thank you, Ava you may go and change now." Ava breathed a sigh of relief and Elena mouthed the word "thank you" as the exhausted model went backstage to change.

Rebekah and Lily approached her, "How is it?" Lily asked in a clipped tone as Elena showed them the camera. You could see the pictures, but they weren't as visible as they would have been on a computer.

"They turned out pretty well," Elena said trying to hide the exhaustion out of her voice. She wanted to go home and eat something. She had texted Damon that she was going to pick up some Chinese for dinner. She was too tired to cook. "But of course we need to see the end result once I finish the photoshop and adjusting the lighting on the photos."

Rebekah nodded. "They look great. The models that we choose weren't too terrible this time, what do you think, Lily?"

Lily nodded and said in a curt voice. "They will do." Which would be the only praise that Elena hoped to receive. "How many days you need to fix up the photos?"

"Three days." Elena blurted out. She didn't know if it was because of her pregnancy or because of the long hours, but she just wanted to crawl into bed. "Is that ok?"

Lily must have sense this, because she nodded. The three women talked for a few minutes before they parted ways. By the time that Elena had picked up the Chinese food and made her way back home an hour had passed.

Damon was waiting in the living room swiping through his I-pad when Elena came home with the food. He immediately stood up to help her. "Where were you?" he scolded. "It's almost ten. You shouldn't be working all day."

"I know the shoot ran long," Elena said as she nibbled on her lip. God, he was a sexy man when he was angry. She wanted to kiss him, but she doubted that Damon would be into kissing when he was upset with her.

"I've hardly seen you this week, either you are with Lexi or you're with Rebekah."

"It's been a busy week," Elena said as she started scooping the food on to plates. "I promise I will be here for the next three days at least."

"I don't mean to sound like a jerk," Damon sighed. "I just miss having you around, I guess. The past few days you've fallen to sleep exhausted."

"I know," Elena kissed his bottom lip, "But things are going to get better from now on. I promise." She stroked his cheek, "Smile for me and let's have dinner."

The both of them ate a quick dinner, though Elena hardly conversed with Damon-she was so tired. They went to bed and Elena waited until Damon started snoring so that she could slip out of bed. She went into the kitchen, holding her laptop. Her eyes burned with exhaustion as she logged onto her blog.

She started typing her newest article: _In the Nude: How to Steam Up Your Boring Relationship. Five Tips for Your Naughty Photoshoot._

* * *

When Damon turned around he noticed that a lump next to him was missing. Elena. For a second he thought that she was sick or in the bathroom, but then he noticed the bright light that was coming from her computer.

"Elena," he croaked, annoyed. "Come to bed." When Elena didn't answered Damon dragged himself out of bed and went towards the living room where the light was coming from. He saw Elena with her head buried in her arms, while her head rested on the table. She was fast asleep and her- whatever she was writing was half finished.

Damon sighed. He didn't want to wake her, but he didn't want her to make this into a habit either. Against his better judgement he picked her up bridal style and closed her laptop. Elena stirred a bit, but she didn't wake up. Instead she snuggled closer into Damon's arms burying her face against his chest.

Damon took her back to bed and laid her on the bed, she stirred a bit and hugged a pillow close to her chest. Damon went back to the side of the bed and pulled her close. He liked feeling the warmth of her body against his.

-End of Chapter Twenty-Five-

Thank you for your reviews!


	27. PART TWENTY-SIX

**PART TWENTY-SIX**

Elena was currently looking at her toilet bowl that look multi colored to her and decided that it was probably not the best idea to eat Captain Crunch cereal in the morning. If she looked at the cereal again, Elena was sure that she was going to throw up, so she flushed down the toilet and rested her head back against the wall.

Damon had already left for work and Elena was glad that he wasn't here to see this mess. Throwing up was not sexy. It occurred to Elena that today she was entering her fourth month of pregnancy, her second trimester.

Elena thought that her morning sickness would have been gone by now. Apparently, she had been wrong. She had called her doctor who assured her that it was normal and that Elena should stick with crackers and water for now. Marvelous.

She heard someone pounding on the door and Elena flinched. Who was that? And why were they knocking like that? "Coming." Elena said. "Who is it?" she didn't want to open the door to any strangers.

"Me." She could hear Lexi behind the door. "Open up, please."

Elena opened the door and saw that Lexi had been crying, there was mascara all over her face. Her face was red and puffy and she was holding a bunch of Kleenex. She burst into Damon and Elena's house. "I'm sorry to barge in like this."

"No, it's ok. I was just-" Elena trailed off. She didn't want to tell Lexi she had been throwing up. "Come in, honey. What's wrong? What happened, I'm sure that it's nothing that we can't fix."

"It didn't work." Lexi choked out.

"What didn't work?" Elena asked patiently.

"The pictures," she said. "The pictures that I took for Stefan. I went to his apartment to show it to him and he didn't even want to see them. He broke up with me Elena, oh why would he do that? I know that we are not perfect, but I love him."

Elena stroke Lexi's long, golden hair. "Oh. Lexi I am so sorry. You never know maybe you and Stefan will get back together." She doubted it.

Lexi was drying her tears. She looked at Elena. "What would you do?"

What would she do? The title of her next blog post was already reeling in Elena's head. _You're Done with your Partner. Now What?_

* * *

"Thanks for helping me do this Elena, honestly it's just like my photographer to do this at the last minute."

"Her grandmother died, Caroline. You could at least offer her some sympathy."

Caroline raised an eyebrow as she picked up a red curly wig. The fourth-grade class that she was in charge off was doing the musical, Annie and there were currently costumes pieces everywhere. Caroline had called and begged Elena to come take pictures of the production pieces that she would show the parents.

Caroline raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Really? Her grandmother died for the sixth time in a year. I'm calling bullshit right now." She held up a red, curly wig. "What do you think, is it too red?"

Elena shrugged. "I think it's cute." She sighed. "You remember that girl I told you about, Lexi. The one that I did the nudes for her boyfriend, Stefan-Damon's brother?"

Caroline smiled. "And that you nearly fainted over because you were such a prude. Yes, I remember. Come on, Elena you are a married lady now and I know Damon. Surely, he is adding some much needed sex education courses."

Elena blushed, but didn't offer any comment. Caroline was much too nosy for her own good. Caroline stiffened slightly.

"Well apparently she didn't even give him the photos. He broke up with her. I mean I knew that they were having problems, but not those kinds of problems. Lexi is a little eccentric, but she is so sweet so I don't-"

"I know why Stefan broke up with her," Caroline blurted out. "He broke up with her so that he could be with me. We got back together Elena."

Elena stared at her in shocked. Caroline and Stefan had dated a few years ago, that's why Elena had gotten the job at the Salvatore firm in the first place. Elena had no idea that Caroline was interested in returning with Stefan. "Why didn't you tell me?" her voice came out harsher than she had intended. "Caroline you heard me talking about how I wanted to help Lexi and suddenly you tell me that while I was planning the photoshoot, you and Stefan were getting back together?"

"Why are you on her side?" Caroline shot back. "I'm your best friend. You should be on my side."

"I'm not on anyone's side," Elena replied. "It just seems like a shitty thing to do."

"Why?" Caroline snorted. "Stefan told me that, that relationship had hit a dead end a long time ago."

"Stefan told you, huh? What about Lexi, what about her side of the story?"

There was an awkward pause before Caroline grabbed the Annie wig and twisted it, in her fingers. "I think you should go home, Elena."

* * *

"You're killing yourself for a hopeless case." Damon scolded his younger brother who had dark circles under his eyes. "No judge is going to find Brian Richardson, wife beater and millionaire as innocent as a white dove. You have been working on this case for two weeks, just tell the wife to get a divorce attorney. You're a criminal attorney. You have no business with this case."

"I can't Damon. She is one of mom's old friends not to mention a very nice lady. I need to do everything in my power to help her."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Your funeral. I'm heading out."

"Hey congratulations."

"For what?"

"Today is the first day of Elena's second trimester. Congratulations."

Damon smiled. "Thank you. Maybe I should get her something to celebrate the occasion. Maybe diamonds."

"Elena doesn't seem like one for diamonds."

"Well, she's married to me, so she better get used to diamonds." Damon waved back at his brother and headed outside towards his parked car. He noticed someone standing against his black car.

Tight jeans. Curly brown hair. Designer heels and a purse that cost $20,000. The young woman opened her glossy lips. "Hello, Damon."

"Hello, Sybil."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Six-

Thanks for your reviews! In case any of you are curious, _Marriage of Convenience_ will have forty chapters. Thirteen chapters to go.

Edit: The character "Katherine" has been replaced with Sybil. Originally I had "Katherine" but I forgot I include her in earlier chapters.


	28. PART TWENTY-SEVEN

**Edit: A guest informed me that I have already included Katherine plotwise in Parts 13-15 as Elijah's wife. I apologize, I forgot that I briefly mentioned Katherine. The character has been replaced with Sybil who appeared in TVD season 8. I will also change the "Katherine" part in Part 26 as well. Thank you kind guest for reminding me.**

 **PART TWENTY-SEVEN**

She still looked the same. Damn her, Damon thought. She still has the same luxurious head of brown curls, the same burgundy colored lips, and the pair of designer shoes. The bitch still reeked of beauty, aloofness, and confidence. As if she had the world at her fingertips. Which given their situation she kind of did.

Sybil Armory's nickname at their private school had been The Queen and they were right about one thing. Sybil Armory did act queenly. But the question still remained. What the hell was she doing here?

Sybil and Damon were both trust fund babies and they had known each other since they were seven. They had attended the same events, gone to the same prep school, and attended Ivy League colleges together for at least ten years.

Sybil had been the first girl actually, to win Damon's heart with that smirk and doe brown eyes. When Damon had invited her to prom during their senior year he had been honored that she had said yes. They had dated all through college and during an end of the year party and the end of their Senior year Damon had proposed marriage to the beautiful Sybil.

She had said yes and the wedding preparations had gone underway even though Lily had worried that Sybil and Damon were both too young. Fastforward to July of Damon and Sybil's post senior year, Damon had found Sybil and Mason, Damon's best friend from high school having sex in Stefan's old room during their engagement party.

Damon had dumped her on the spot calling her a "cheap, dirty slut" and the next year he moved across the country for law school where he had sex with hot blonds that even looked in his direction. Damon hadn't even thought about Sybil until he saw her leaning against his car.

"Well," Sybil had the audacity to flutter her eyelashes at him. "Aren't you going to give me a kiss?"

Damon didn't even move from his spot. All of the anger and hurt he had felt a few years ago seemed to return the second that he saw Sybil. "You're lucky that I am not calling the cops because you are on my private property. Get the fuck away from my car."

Sybil smirked, but she walked towards him. "My, my aren't we feeling particularly cranky today. I thought you would be happy to see me."

"Well, you thought wrong." Damon noticed that she had gold eyeshadow. The same gold shade that Damon told her that he loved on her because it made her eyes pop. That bitch. She had come all this way to seduce him. Damon would bet money on it. "What are you doing here, Sybil?"

Sybil gave a little shrug. "I decided to come back to this sad, little town. Then I came across some very interesting information that Damon Salvatore, the Damon Salvatore who swore he would never fall in love after me is married to a small town girl who is expecting his baby. My, how time flies." There was a smirk on her pretty face.

Damon smirked at her. "Jealousy doesn't look good on you, Sybil. How's Mason by the way? Do you visit him in jail often?"

Sybil flinched slightly, but her expression darkened. "I've seen Elena you know, she looks like a sad little muppet. Where on earth did you find her an orphanage-" Sybil's gasped when Damon gripped her wrist.

"Don't say anything about my wife!" Damon snapped.

"Hit a sore spot, didn't I?" Sybil raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "You will never be happy with her Damon. She's too plain, too good, too pure for you. You'll ruin her."

Damon snorted. "Jokes on you, Syb. I am very happy my wife. Can't say the same for you. Hey, how does it feel that in a few years you will be an aging spinster. Don't worry I'm sure you'll find some idiot to trap."

Sybil's cheeks turned red with anger, but she regained her composure. She gave Damon a wry smile. "Goodbye for now, Damon. Say hello to Elena for me."

"Fuck off."

* * *

"I think you overreacted," Bonnie told Elena over the phone. "Elena, as a friend your job is not to get in the middle and that's what you did you got in the middle. Lexi and Care are both your friends, but you defended Lexi over Caroline which you have known longer. That must have stung."

"I know," Elena bit on her bottom lip as she paced around the living room. "I feel like I overreacted, but the whole Caroline and Stefan thing came out of nowhere and I knew how excited Lexi was, but you're right. It's not Caroline's fault. I should apologize to her. How's medical school?"

Bonnie groaned, she sounded tired. "How do you think? Our professor gave us two days to study for an anatomy test. Two days to learn 150 anatomy terms. I mean who does that? Believe me I wish I had your problems right. How's your blog going?"

Elena tucked back a piece of brown hair behind her ear. "It's going great, I have had a greater number of subscribers. But I am kind of stumped on what to do next." Cooking was out since she was a terrible cook.

"You could do an advice column," Bonnie suggested. She heard the teakettle in the background.

"If anyone should have their own blog is you, you give the best advice." Elena replied.

"Aw, thanks."

Elena heard the door opened and she told Bonnie, "I have to go, Bon. Good luck with your anatomy test."

"Thanks," Bonnie sounded glum as she hung up.

Elena smiled at Damon as he came into the living room. He usually smiled back or at the very least give her a peck on the cheek or forehead. But today he did neither. He had a somber look on his face as if somebody had died and it worried her. "Is something wrong, Damon?"

He didn't answer.

"Damon, is something wrong," she placed his hand on his wrist, but Damon pulled away harshly. "Nothing is wrong, leave me alone, Elena."

"But Damon-"

" _I said leave me alone!"_ he hissed with so much anger and bitterness that it scared her. She wanted to comfort him and ask what was wrong, but Damon simply went to the bedroom and shut the door.

-End of Part Twenty-Seven-

Get ready for the Drama! Thank you my babies. All of you have been awesome and so patient. I thank you from the bottom of my heart!


	29. PART TWENTY-EIGHT

**PART TWENTY-EIGHT**

"He just stormed off," Elena put down her cup of coffee as she turned to stare at Stefan who was looking at her with a sympathetic look on his face as he sat at the edge of his desk. After Damon's outburst, Elena didn't know who to turn to since she wasn't exactly speaking to Caroline at the moment. So Stefan's brother was the next best thing. "I've never seen him so angry before."

Stefan took the empty cup from her. "Well, my brother has always been famous for his temper. I wouldn't take it to heart, Elena. He'll be back to his self in a few days."

Elena nodded as she looked at her lap. "I'm sorry that I'm treating like my therapist right about now. I'm sure that you have better things to do."

Stefan shook his head. "Don't mention it, believe me I needed a break. I'm working on a huge domestic abuse case. It's getting nowhere, so thanks for that. Elena, can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"Can you and Caroline make up?" Stefan looked uncomfortable. "She's upset about what happened between you, her, and Lexi. Elena, I know that I did a horrible thing to Lexi and I never thought I would go back to Caroline after our previous breakup-but things happen. It's not Caroline's fault."

Elena flushed. "I will, I feel terrible Stefan. I shouldn't have treated her like that. I'm going to apologize to her. I swear."

Stefan nodded. "Well, good." He looked relieved. "You girls are the best of friends. I would hate it if you girls ended your friendship over something so silly."

She grabbed her purse. "I better go. Maybe Damon is in a better mood now." Elena and Stefan exchanged goodbyes and Elena exited the office. Elena saw a blond woman with a faded bruise on her left eye. She looked like she had been crying. "Are you ok, ma'am?"

The blond looked up and Elena noticed that she was older than her, perhaps in her early thirties. "Oh, I am quite all right. You see I was waiting for Mr. Salvatore, he's my lawyer to finish with his meeting. Silly me started crying in the middle of the street. Thank you for worrying about me dear it's just-" she sighed. "It's been so hard."

"What's been so hard?" Elena prompted. "I'm Elena Salvatore by the way."

"Anne Richardson," Anne pipped in. "The reason that I am so upset is because I am divorcing my husband. He's not the nicest man and I-" She trailed off. "Well, it's just hard starting over."

Elena nodded. "Sometimes it is, but believe me once you reach the end it's worth it." She got a piece of paper from her notebook and wrote down her number. "This is my phone number. I know we just meet and all, but you seem like a very nice lady. If you need anything, just please let me know."

The woman smiled, her lower lip trembling as she took the piece of paper. "You are very kind. Thank you, Elena." She put the note in her purse and headed inside, her feet shuffling.

Elena said a quick prayer even though she was not very religious. She was halfway to her car when her cell phone rang. It was Damon. Was he calling to apologize? "Damon?"

"We have a last-minute event tonight," Damon barked. "Get a nice dress. I'll pick you up at seven." And then he hung up.

* * *

Elena doubted that she would ever get used to having her own credit card or shopping at the best stores. But there was no doubt that Damon liked the fine things in life and he hated when she wore cheap things.

Elena was barely getting used to shopping in expensive stores, let alone following the "dress codes" of certain events. Caroline usually helped, but she and Caroline weren't speaking now. Elena felt a tug in her heart.

Elena went towards the first store that she saw, PRADA. A tall thin woman greeted her, she was wearing bright red lipstick. "Can I help you?"

Elena shook her head, shyly. "Oh, no I am just looking. Thank you." The woman looked at her with a slight disapproving look before she went back to behind the cash register. Elena occupied herself by shifting through the racks of silk, velvet, and lace. Each dress seemed more extravagant than the next, but neither of them screamed her.

She picked up a blue dress and stared at the emerald rhinestones on it.

"That's a little too Las Vegas show girl isn't it?"

Elena looked up and saw a beautiful dark haired girl with wide brown eyes and a bright smile. Elena smiled. "Right. Not my style at all, but I am not the best when it comes to fashion, especially with fancy events."

"I can help, you know." She said. "I do have an eye for clothes and you are as cute as a button. I would be happy to help you out. What is the event for?"

Elena shook her head, feeling a ting of annoyance when she remembered Damon's tone of voice. "I'm not sure. My husband didn't say. But knowing him it is somewhere fancy. Thank you for your help. You don't have too."

The woman grinned at her. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm Sybil by the way."

"I'm Elena Salvatore." Elena said. "Have you lived in Mystic Falls for long, Sybil?"

Sybil shrugged as she touched some of the fabrics of the dresses. "I used to live around the area when I was younger," Sybil said smoothly. "I came back a few days ago. How about you, Elena?"

Elena shook her head. "Nothing that interesting, I'm afraid. I was born and raised in Mystic Falls my entire life." Sybil had pulled out a long, dark green dress with crystal beads around the waist. "Oh, wow that's beautiful."

Sybil pressed the dress against Elena's chest. "You're going to look like a Queen. I'm sure that this dress will be perfect for whatever event you're going with your husband."

Elena took the dress and smiled gratefully at Sybil. "Thank you, Sybil. You're a lifesaver."

"No problem." Sybil said. "Elena, I hope I'm not coming off as too forward, but could I have your number? You seem like a cool girl and I just moved back to town, maybe we could have coffee or lunch one day?"

"Of course," Elena grinned as she entered her phone number in Sybil's phone. There was no harm in making new friends, especially since Bonnie was away at med school and it wouldn't hurt to make new friends other than Caroline and Lexi. "Thank you for helping me out Sybil, you are a lifesaver and we should totally go on that coffee date sometime."

Sybil nodded as she walked her towards the cash register. "Of course, Elena." She let out a small laugh and she apologized. "Oh, I'm sorry, Elena. I just have a feeling that we are going to be the best of friends."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Eight-

Thank you for reading! I'm sorry for my lack of updates, I just started my first post-college job, so my time is very limited now. I'm going to try and update as soon as possible.


	30. PART TWENTY-NINE

**PART TWENTY-NINE**

"What are you doing here?"

Elena flinched when she heard Caroline, for some reason the blond sounded much harsher than anticipated, but after the fight that she and Elena had, had she couldn't exactly blame her. Caroline was wearing a pair of loose sweatpants and her blond hair was up in a lazy bun. She didn't seem at all pleased to see Elena.

Elena clutched the box of cookies that she had brought as a I'm Sorry gift. "I came to apologize about what happened with you, and me, and Lexi. I lost my temper and I'm sorry I shouldn't have accused you. You and Stefan have every right to get back together and it's none of my business."

"Yeah," Caroline chipped. "You were a real jerk."

"I know," Elena said as she handed her the box of cookies. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Friends?" Caroline's face softened as she took the cookies.

"Elena Gilbert, how can I ever say no to you?"

Half an eaten box of cookies later, the rift between the two friends seemed to have never happened. "Wow, Damon is being an asshole." She put a cookie in her mouth. "Stefan and Damon are so different. Stefan is practically an angel, and well Damon is the opposite."

Elena laughed. "You can say that again. I just wished he would just talk to me."

Caroline rolled her blue eyes. "Oh, honey I know that you're new to the whole understanding men game, but believe me- one thing that men do not do well is talk. Especially someone like Damon. He'll come along, you'll see."

Elena doubted it, but she didn't want to jinx it. "I'm going to an event with Damon today."

"What kind of event?" Caroline raised an eyebrow and Elena shrugged. "Well, do you have a dress. You can't go in your jeans, you know, that right?"

Elena rolled her. "Of course, I know that. I'm not an idiot. I actually have a very nice dress for tonight. A nice girl I meet at the mall actually helped me pick it out. She was actually very nice."

"What was her name?"

"Sybil."

"That's a weird name," Caroline bit her lip. "I never heard of it before. Do you need help with your hair and make-up?"

Elena laughed. "You know that I do."

* * *

Sybil was a genius. Elena had never really been a fashion forward kind of person, her style was cute, but she did lean towards the girl next door vibe. Sybil had transformed her into some kind of goddess. The dark green dress suited her perfectly and it hugged every curve of her body. She had the beginning of a belly, but nothing too noticeable. Elena wondered when she would really pop.

Care had swept her dark hair up in a low bun and small diamonds earrings glistered on her ears. Elena had managed to find a small clutch that matched her dress perfectly. Now all she needed was her knight in shining armor, no matter how moody he was.

The door opened and Elena turned around and saw Damon still in his work suit. He still had a sort of frown on his face, but the frown evaporated a bit when he saw Elena. "Elena, wow you look beautiful."

"Thank you for noticing," Elena wanted to ask him what was wrong, if he was still in his bad mood. But she also didn't want to ruin what they had going on. "Are you ready, can we go? Where are we going anyway?"

"A charity ball," Damon said in a clipped voice. "I'll get dressed soon."

* * *

Elena still couldn't get used to the fact of how fancy these charity balls were. There were women that were practically dripping with jewels and men in stiff tuxes that never had to work a day in their life. Damon raised an eyebrow. "Close your mouth, honey. You'll catch flies."

Elena threw him a glare, trying to ignore the fact that her cheeks were turning a pretty pink. She huffed at him. "Well, you're in a better mood. What changed? You've been scowling at me since yesterday."

Damon almost looked guilty at the fact. "I'm sorry. Things happened. Things you wouldn't understand."

"I won't understand unless you tell me what is going on, Damon." Elena raised a pointed eyebrow and practically forced him to stare down at her. "Tell me, I'll understand."

"No, you won't." Damon hissed.

"Mr. Salvatore!" An elderly woman in a burgundy dress with more diamonds around her neck than Elena had ever seen came to greet them. She kissed Damon on the cheek. "And is this your new wife? I heard that you've gotten married, but Ronald has been so ill lately we have practically become shut ins."

"Ruth," Damon smiled. "It is such a pleasure to see you again. This is my lovely wife, Elena."

Elena forced a smile. "Pleasure."

"Well, aren't you a doll."

Elena was forced to listen to Ruth's conversation about her tulip garden before she went to chat with another friend. When Elena turned back to Damon he could noticed that she was still upset.

He changed the subject. "It doesn't concern you. It's just something with a client, I took it out on you. I shouldn't have and I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise. Tomorrow, we'll do something special."

* * *

A picnic. They had decided to go to a picnic. Well, Damon had decided to go to a picnic to celebrate, well maybe celebrate was the wrong word. To start over, yes that sounded better the fact that their little argument was left in the past.

It occurred to Elena that this was the first time that she had seen her husband's legs (not counting when they were having sex) he usually dressed more sophisticated when he was at the law firm. But today he was wearing a pastel color shirt and shorts. It strangely suited him.

"Where do you want to set up?"

The park was busy today given that it was Sunday and the place was crawling with little league players and families.

"Anywhere," Elena said, "As long as there is shade."

Damon finally found a spot under a giant oak tree as he laid down the blanket on the floor and Elena set down the picnic basket. She hadn't brought much, just some sandwiches, chips, and some ice tea. "I've never seen you as the picnic type." Elena pointed out. "You don't seem like the type that likes getting dirty."

Damon rolled his eyes. "The one that is all frills and lace is my brother. Pass me a sandwich, now would you?"

-End of Part Twenty-Nine-


	31. PART THIRTY

**PART THIRTY**

It occurred to Elena that she would have to buy maternity clothes soon, especially since her jeans were barely buttoning. Or maybe it wasn't the pregnancy, but the constant ice cream that she was chugging down. Now that the morning sickness had settled down, she had started on the cravings.

She must have finished off all the ice cream at the local grocery store. She opened her freezer and saw pints of Cherry, Strawberry and Cream, and Cookies and Cream ice cream. Elena grabbed a pint of cookies and cream and a spoon. She was about to sit on the couch when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered the phone on the second ring, thinking it was Caroline, Bonnie, or Damon. Instead she was greeted with the voice of a woman with a smooth voice and a slight British accent.

"Hello," the woman said in a clipped tone. "Is this Mrs. Elena Salvatore?" when Elena said yes, the woman continued. "This is Ms. Elaine Rolaid, I'm calling from The Pen."

Elena looked confused as she opened the pint of ice cream. "The Pen, I don't-"

Elaine laughed. "I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of us, Mrs. Salvatore. The Pen is a small committee that awards the users with the best blogs in the United States. You have been nominated, or should I say your blog, The Doppelganger has been nominated in the category of Best Newcomer. You are the first of five nominees. I wanted to congratulate you myself, you have risen to popularity quite fast. I've never seen a newcomer rise to your popularity as fast as you. It is quite impressive. You should be very proud of yourself."

"Thank you," Elena felt dizzy. "Wow, I don't know what to say, but thank you. When will I know the results, if I won?"

"In two months, two and a half at the most," Elaine said in a clipped voice. "The two finalists will move on to the next round and then me and my panel of judges will choose a finalist. We will let you know if you made it to the final round."

Elena nodded, trying to calm down her beating heart. She couldn't believe that her blog had actually been nominated for a freaking award. "Thank you," she managed to choke out. "Thank you so much."

She hung up as she grabbed her purse. She wanted to tell Damon.

* * *

Damon was helping Stefan with the Anne Richardson case, the case of the married woman who wanted to divorce her husband, millionaire Brian Richardson. Stefan looked beyond stressed as he looked over the paperwork trying to come up with a defense. But when you're going against a very rich man, it was kind of impossible.

"Look, I'm going to call it a night." Stefan said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"It's only 3."

"Well, I need to take a break," Stefan snapped as he grabbed his briefcase. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Temper, temper." Damon watched as his baby brother left. He decided to stay for one more hour and then go home. Around half an hour later he heard a tiny bell indicating that someone had come in.

"Sorry, we're closing-" he stopped in his tracks when he saw the stunning brunette. Sybil. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come and say hi," Sybil said. "Is that not allowed?"

"No," he practically hissed as he grabbed her bony arm and nearly dragged her out of the office until they were in the parking lot outside of the office. "Now leave before I call the police. I don't think a restraining order will look too good on you, Sybil."

"I look good in everything, darling." Sybil practically cooed as she pushed back Damon's dark hair. "Come on Damon, don't be cruel. We used to have so much fun together." Sybil was caressing his cheek and leaning closer.

Before Damon could push her away, she kissed him roughly nearly biting Damon's lip off. The kiss lasted exactly five seconds before Damon pushed her away. "Get out." He hissed. "And don't come back."

Sybil smirked as she watched Damon's retreating back, she heard as a tiny car practically sprinted away. She was sure that the car had belonged to Damon's stupid little wife who she was sure had seen the whole thing.

Sybil pulled out her phone and saw that a blue dot was going in the opposite direction. Elena. When Sybil had helped the naïve Elena pick out a dress she had slipped a small chip in her purse to track Elena. After all, Elena took the same purse everywhere. It had been almost too perfect.

One thing was for sure Sybil was winning and Elena and Damon's marriage would soon crumble.

* * *

The tears stung Elena's eyes as she watched Damon kissing Sybil, the pretty woman that had helped Elena at the dress shop. Sybil was dressed in a short brown dress and she had her arms around her husband as if she didn't want to let him go.

She was not going to cry. She was not going to cry. She was not going to cry. Her mantra was destroyed however, when the hot tears started falling down her face. She gripped her purse and immediately turned the car around towards the opposite road.

Damon had cheated on her with another woman, with an incredibly beautiful woman right in front of her. Elena didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that he had not seen her.

 _He didn't love you, silly_ a little voice told Elena. _He never loved you, you're the little idiot_ _that fell for the whole fairy tale fiasco. He just wanted a baby, you wanted a baby. This was just a marriage of convenience and nothing else._

But there had been a contract. Damon had promised that he wouldn't cheat and yet he had practically stopped on Elena's heart in front of her. They had barely started to get along, why was Elena bursting to tears over this guy?

She didn't want to go home. She didn't want to go back to Damon's place, especially since she hadn't put a penny into that house. Elena found herself back on her old road and back on the driveway of her old house.

Elena felt instant relief. She was home, back to the house of her childhood. Back to where she didn't really have any problems. Elena wished that she was back in high school, back when everything was simpler.

She grabbed her purse and knocked on the door. She felt sick, like she was going to throw up. Miranda answered almost immediately. Miranda looked at Elena filled with surprise. "Elena, honey what happened? Why are you crying? Is something wrong with Damon?"

When Miranda mentioned Damon's name she burst into tears again and hugged her mother. Miranda was confused, but hugged her daughter back and at that moment, it was all that Elena needed.

-End of Part Thirty-

Thank you for your kind reviews!


	32. PART THIRTY ONE

**Part Thirty-One**

"She hasn't left the house in a week," Elena heard her father, Grayson hiss to her mother Miranda. "This isn't healthy. She is a grown woman staying with her parents when she should be with her husband."

"Her husband cheated on her," Miranda hissed back. "Do you honestly think that Elena wants to be anywhere near that man? Honestly Grayson have some compassion for her."

"I do," Grayson lowered his voice. "Forgive me if I don't think hiding behind a pillow in a dark room is the best thing to do in this situation. She needs to talk to Damon, has she tried to contact him at all."

"He has called a few times," Miranda sniffed. "But Elena, doesn't want to talk to him and I can't force her too. Damn it, Grayson Damon cheated on her. Can you blame her for not wanting to talk to him?"

"Maybe it was a misunderstanding."

"How can kissing someone else outside of your office a misunderstanding?" Miranda let out an echoless laugh. "I doubt it. Give her time, this was a big thing for her. Let her rest for a bit."

Elena heard her parents arguing outside of her childhood bedroom as she buried her head in her pillow. Her phone was practically bursting with calls and texts from Damon, but she hadn't answered him. In fact she had barely gotten out of a pair of old sweats that barely fit thanks to her pregnancy.

Elena forced herself to sit up. Her father was right about one thing, she wasn't going to waste any more time moping over him. Elena squeezed into a pair of jeans and an old T-shirt that only reminded her that she was very pregnant.

Her mother was alone in the kitchen when she went downstairs. Miranda gripped her coffee cup. "Elena, honey you're awake. Do you want to talk?"

"No mom," she gave her a sad smile. "I was going to walk to the post office. I'm going to send Bonnie a care package and I need a box and some stamps. Do you need anything?"

"No honey," Miranda said as she tucked back a piece of hair from Elena's face. "Are you going to take car?"

"No, it's a good day to walk. I've been a couch potato for very long." She kissed her mother on the cheek and grabbed her purse. The walk towards the post office was only fifteen minutes away and she was glad that it was empty. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

She quickly bough her items and made a point to get quickly back home. The last thing that she wanted to do was get into small talk with anyone especially since small town folks could be so nosy.

"Mrs. Salvatore?"

Elena cringed when she heard her name being called out. She turned around and saw that it was Mrs. Richardson, the woman who Stefan was helping get a divorced from her abusive, rich husband. She looked calmer now, but happier. "It is you, right? I wasn't sure."

"Yes, Mrs. Richardson. Hello, how are you?"

Mrs. Richardson let out a small giggle. "Better. I'm feeling better, talking to you helped last time. I left my husband and took whatever I could, your brother in law, the other Mr. Salvatore has been so helpful. I'm leaving tonight for Toronto."

"Wow, that was fast," Elena told her quietly. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Mrs. Robinson squeezed her hand. "And thank you so much for your help. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

* * *

"You need to go and talk to her." Stefan looked up and saw that Damon was staring angrily at his phone. "Seriously, Damon Elena is not going to answer her phone. You need to go talk to her and apologize for kissing Sybil."

"I didn't kiss Sybil, Sybil kissed me," Damon argued. "And if she wasn't a lady, I would have kicked her ass."

"Are you sure that's why Elena left home," Stefan frowned. "It seems a little too coincidental that Elena saw you and Sybil kissing outside. Maybe it was something else that you did."

"I'm sure it's that, I've never seen Elena this mad before. She is usually pretty level headed and me and Elena were fine. We made up last time, we were happy," he threw Stefan a dirty look. "What else would it be?"

Stefan didn't say anything and then he spoke up. "I still think that you need to talk with her, and explain it to her. It won't take long to convince Elena that Sybil is a vindictive bitch."

"She's staying with her parents," Damon practically spit. "Am I supposed to talk to her with Mama Gilbert and Papa Gilbert breathing over my neck." Stefan shrugged as if saying that Damon didn't have much of a choice.

In the end Damon had to agreed, he was running out of options and Stefan was the "good Salvatore brother" after all and Stefan had always been lucky with women so he probably knew what he was talking about.

The Gilbert House was twenty minutes away from his office and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert's cars were not in their driveway. He did see Elena's car and that must mean that she was there by herself.

Damon took a deep breath as he knocked on the door, a few seconds later Elena opened the door. Her hair was in a messy bun and her eyes were puffy. "What are you doing here?" she asked him bitterly. There was so much anger and hate in her brown eyes.

"Elena," Damon's throat felt tight. "I need to explain, me and Sybil are not having an affair-"

Elena let out a dark laugh as she gripped the door. "Oh, please Damon. Don't treat me like an idiot, I saw you and Sybil kissing in front of your office. If I hadn't-" she stopped talking. "You broke the contract, the contract that both of us signed. You can keep your money, I don't want it. You can keep your money. I'm keeping the baby."

"Elena, please-"

"Goodbye, Damon. Please leave before I'm forced to call the police." Before Damon could argue, she closed the door and locked it. Elena sank to the floor as she buried her hands in her hair. What was she going to do now?

* * *

Sybil stepped back when she saw the pool of blood. Mrs. Richardson's body was on the floor next to the bed. Bruises covered her body and it seemed that she had died coughing up blood. Sybil stared at Mr. Richardson whose expensive suit was covered with blood. "You killed your wife? If I wasn't your cousin, I would be freaked out."

Mr. Richardson didn't answer her. "She was about to leave to Toronto, I couldn't let her leave. Damon's bitch encouraged her to leave. Why are you even attracted to him?"

"He was my first love," Sybil shrugged. "He and his wife are separated now. So if you are going after the wife, I suggest you do it now."

-End of Chapter Thirty-One-

Thank you for your awesome response!


	33. PART THIRTY TWO

**PART THIRTY-TWO**

"Thank you for coming with me, mom." Elena said to her mother as Miranda hugged her tightly as they made their way to the clinic. Elena felt jumpy and weird and downright strange, today she was going to find out the sex of her baby.

When she had thought about this day months ago she had always thought that it would be her and Damon walking to the clinic to find out the sex of their baby. Not that she didn't appreciate her own mother being here. She just hadn't expected her mother at all. As much as she loved Miranda, she had always thought of this as her and Damon's moment.

Now here she was heavily pregnant, living with her parents, avoiding her husband, and she had just been nominated for a blogging award. It was a little too soap opera for Elena's tastes.

Miranda squeezed her shoulder. "Of course." Miranda had been a little bit more understanding of her situation than her father who seemed to believe that the whole thing was a huge misunderstanding and that everything would be resolved by talking.

Elena let out a frustrated little sigh. Men always seemed to think that talking solved everything. Miranda and Elena entered the clinic's door and headed towards the third floor where a bored secretary handed her a form to fill out.

Twenty minutes later they were ushered into a room where they were greeted by a smiling doctor with her long hair in braids. She gave Elena a sweet smile, "Hello mom to be, I'm Dr. Winnie. How are you today?"

"Good." Elena gave the standard response. She knew that Lily would have a coronary if she found out that she was seeing a "commoner's" doctor, but at this point Elena needed a break from the Salvatore family.

"How have you've been feeling? Any unusual stress? Illnesses? Anything that you would like to share?" Miranda and Elena exchanged looks before both of them said no. Dr. Winnie looked slightly suspicious before she stared putting the clear gel on Elena's belly.

She started pressing the remote control shaped object on her belly. Dr. Winnie smiled. "There you go Mrs. Salvatore, a perfectly healthy baby. Ten fingers, ten toes, and you are completely healthy for your fifth month of pregnancy."

Miranda let out an unusual squeal as she hugged her daughter's shoulder.

Elena gulped, she felt happy, but empty. All she could think about was that Damon should be here. Then she hated herself for having that bitter thought. "The last doctor that I went to, told me that I would be able to find out the sex of the baby during my fifth month of pregnancy."

"Why yes," Dr. Winnie looked curious. "Would you like to know the sex?"

Elena nodded.

"You're going to have a baby boy."

* * *

"You're pathetic, I hope you know that." Katherine Mikaelson scoffed as she held her baby girl, Nadia in her arms. Damon glared at her, he had never really liked Katherine and if she wasn't his cousin's wife he would have kicked her to the curve.

Katherine had given birth to baby Nadia, three months ago after being heavily pregnant at Elena and Damon's wedding, but she already looked stunning and was already wearing tight clothes that consisted of skinny jeans and a black top. Along with 5 inch heels of course.

Damon looked up from the paperwork that he had been trying to get done for the past three hours. "What the hell are you trying to say, Katherine?"

Katherine was trying to soothe Nadia who was trying to wake up. "You heard what I said, Elena is the best thing that has happened to you and you're just going to let her go."

"You don't even like Elena," Damon snorted. "If I remember correctly you and Rebekah were being complete bitches on our wedding day."

Katherine shrugged. "I was heavily pregnant and hormones play a huge part. Sue me. It doesn't change the fact that you're pathetic."

"Why do you even care?" As far as Damon knew Katherine only cared about three things: shopping sprees, her newborn baby, and Elijah's dick.

Katherine didn't say anything for a moment. "I don't know maybe I don't like seeing you mopey all the damn time. Call me sentimental. Goodbye, Damon."

"Goodbye, Kat." Damon murmured, and a second later Stefan came in looking both frustrated and confused. "What's wrong? They ran out of hair gel at the drugstore?"

Stefan ignored his jab. "Mrs. Richardson didn't come."

"Who?"

"Mrs. Richardson," Stefan snapped. "The case that I am working on. She was supposed to come today to sign her end of the divorced papers, but she never showed up."

Damon shrugged. "So?" Clients forgot about meetings all the time. It was annoying, but not as Damon recalled something that involved life or death.

"She was just really into it, she's moving to Toronto soon." Stefan shook his head. "Maybe I am overreacting."

"You think?" Damon stood up and Stefan looked at him confused, probably wondering where he was going at 2pm. "I'm going to get Elena back. I know that she probably doesn't want to see me and that she will probably slam the door in my face, but I want to see her and I got to try, Stefan."

* * *

"You're going to have a baby boy, you are definitely going to be covered in pee." Caroline told Elena as she bit on a carrot stick. "Everyone knows that baby boys pee everywhere." Both girls were currently on the floor as Elena tried to glue googly eyes on a fish mask. Caroline was planning on doing a The Rainbow Fish musical with a group of first graders from the local elementary school and so far it wasn't going very well.

It didn't help that Caroline had roped Elena in costume duty to help her "get over her depression" especially since Elena wasn't a creative person to begin with. Elena wrinkled her nose at the thought. "That doesn't really happen, does it?"

Caroline shrugged. "I read it in Cosmo once." She gave a frustrated sigh. "This isn't working. Why did I think doing a musical with a bunch of first graders who can barely write their own names was a good idea. I'm not being paid enough, ok let's stop. I don't want to see another fish."

Elena stopped, feeling suddenly grateful.

Caroline hesitated for a bit, before she asked. "Elena, I hope that you don't take this the wrong way, but have you talked to Damon since. . .he well, you know."

Elena shook her head. "No, he came to my parent's house once and he wanted to talk to me, but I didn't let him in. He broke our contract Caroline and he. . .he hurt my feelings Caroline. I thought we were finally in a good place. I thought we were on the same page and then he does this."

"Are you in love with him?" Caroline asked her gently, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

Elena didn't respond, she just stared at her lap. "It doesn't matter what I feel, Damon and I are done and nothing can change that."

-End of Chapter Thirty-Two-

Thank you so much for your very kind reviews!


	34. PART THIRTY THREE

**PART THIRTY-THREE**

When Elena drove back home she saw Damon's sleek black car waiting in front of her parents' house. Her parents had told her that they were going to visit a couple of friends and warned Elena that they wouldn't be home when Elena returned back home from her outing to Caroline's.

Elena hadn't thought it had been a big deal, she just hadn't thought that her husband would come waltzing back in. Seriously, at the beginning Damon had to practically beg Elena to marry him and now Damon was willingly seeking her out.

Stranger things had happened, but Elena had never thought that Damon Salvatore would willingly seek her out.

Elena didn't want to fight. She was sick of fighting, but it seemed that, that's what they were going to do today. She parked her car at the end of their driveway and saw Damon waiting there for her.

He looked tired, Elena would give him that. Elena felt almost sorry for him. "What are you doing here, Damon? I already told you that I don't want to talk."

"I know," Damon said. "I know that Elena, but we need to talk. I honored that contract that we both signed. I would never cheat on you, I swear."

"Then why were you kissing Sybil," Elena hated how jealous she sounded. "Was it a hello kiss or what was it?"

"Sybil was an ex-girlfriend of mine," Damon said patiently. "We lost contact years ago and suddenly she steps out of nowhere and starts kissing me. Elena, I did not want to kiss her, she forced herself on me. Please, you need to believe me."

Elena hesitated, she thought back to Damon and Sybil, how they had kissed. How they had been so close. "How do I know that you're not lying?"

"I'm not lying to you." Damon assured her. "I am many things, but I am not a liar. If you don't believe me, ask Stefan." He opened the door of his car. "But I wouldn't lie to you, Elena. Not about this. Ask Stefan, he knows me better than anyone and he will be able to give you the same response. I want you to come home, Elena."

* * *

"He's right you know, as much as I hate to admit it, but I do know him more than anyone." Stefan turned to look at Elena who had an uncomfortable look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I know my brother, Elena and he is many things, but he is not a cheater and I know that you two didn't exactly have a classic fairytale at the start of your relationship, but he wouldn't cheat on you. He especially wouldn't cheat on you with Sybil of all people."

Elena looked at the clock that Stefan had in his office. It had little carved out hummingbirds on them. "What happened between Sybil and Damon, Stefan. I know that it's none of my business, but I need to know Stefan. I need to make sure."

Stefan ran a hand through his hair. "It's a long story, but basically Sybil and Damon dated for years. Everyone thought that they would end up getting married. While they were both in college Sybil cheated on Damon and Damon broke up with her. It's been years since they saw each other. I know Damon is not exactly a saint, but Sybil is a very manipulative person and not very kind. After what she did to Damon, Damon wouldn't take her back."

Elena didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Look, I'm not saying that I know what exactly the truth is," Stefan admitted. "But I know my brother and this whole situation with Sybil does not stand well with me."

* * *

Damon had been in the middle of his second bottle of wine when he heard the doorbell ring. Damon stood up and went to open it and he nearly jumped when he saw Elena standing there. "Elena, I wasn't expecting you." He was half afraid that she had come here asking for a divorce.

Elena stepped inside biting her lower lip. "We need to talk."

Damon nodded as both of them walked towards the living room. Elena turned back to him and said slowly. "I spoke with Stefan about Sybil and he told me about your situation and well your past with her."

Damon swallowed hard as he approached her. "Elena, the relationship between Sybil and myself is complicated, so, so complicated, but I will never cheat on you with her I swear. Sybil is the one chasing me for whatever psychotic reason. You need to believe me, please."

Elena didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I believe you." She finally sighed and looked at him with wide eyes. Damon breathed a sigh of relief. "You are many things Damon, but you are not a liar."

"I take that as a compliment." Damon relaxed a bit, Elena looked less angry. She looked more relaxed. Though she still looked exhausted. This mess with Sybil had really taken a toll on her. It was enough to make him angry. Why couldn't Sybil just exit out of their lives for good?

Her belly seemed to have grown larger though it had been only two long weeks since Elena have been living at her parents. Damon pressed a hand on Elena's belly and she softened a bit. "What does she want Damon? What does she want, why does she keep doing this?"

"To make our lives miserable? Because she is an evil bitch? I don't know Elena, but I do know that I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that she gets the hell out of Mystic Falls."

"I found out the gender of our baby," Elena said with a shy smile as Damon smiled at her. It was the first time that he seemed genuinely happy about the baby and not talking about it as if were a new car that they were going to get at the end of a business transaction.

They were almost their own normal family.

Damon pressed a hand on her belly caressing it. Elena already felt like she was walking funny, like a little penguin and she was only half way along. "What are we having?" he almost cooed.

Elena smiled. "We are having a baby boy."

* * *

After Elena and Damon had made up, Elena had agreed to move back to their lavish home. Damon had offered to help her pack up, but Elena insisted that she should do it herself since she didn't know how her parents would react since they weren't too thrilled about Damon.

Elena thought it would be best if she talked to her parents first and she promised that she would be back at home tonight.

Her parents still weren't home after Elena went back home, so she decided to pack up her things in her small car.

Elena was half way towards her car, carrying a box with her clothes when she heard footsteps behind her. Elena was about to turn around when she felt something sharp on the back of her head and then everything became black.

-End of Chapter Thirty-Three-


	35. PART THIRTY FOUR

Author's Note: I know, I know it's been forever. Sorry!

 **PART THIRTY-FOUR**

Her head throbbed. Elena's head had only hurt that badly when she had been seventeen years old and she, Caroline, and Bonnie had snuck down a bottle of wine and drank it all in one of their parent's basements.

But this was way worse than a hung over. This felt like she had been hit with a bunch of bricks. She blinked once, trying to remember what had happened. She had been putting her stuff in the back of her car when suddenly she had felt extraordinary pain.

It took her a minute for her brain to settle, but when it did it wasn't much better. Her head still throbbed painfully. Elena forced herself to keep her eyes opened, believing that if she kept them closed she would never escape from this horrendous nightmare.

Elena opened her eyes slowly, she tried to place one hand on her belly like she always did so that she could have an easier time sitting up, but she found out that she couldn't. Her arms were tied behind her back with thick ropes along with her legs She was completely immobile.

A chill went down her spine as panicked settled in. What the hell had happened and where was she? Elena slowly forced herself to sit up, but it was hard with her belly in the way. When she finally did she surveyed her territory.

Small, cramped dirty farm house. No one in sight and she couldn't hear buildings or cars around her either. She sighed. Great, just what she needed for her to be dropped in the middle of nowhere.

She tried to picture the person who attacked her, but she came out blank. Elena could feel the panic starting to settle in as she forced herself not to cry. As soon as she started crying all hell would break loose and then she would really be screwed. Crying was not in the cards right now.

The door opened, and Elena turned around, half hoping that this was all a horrible prank. That's when she recognized the gold shoes and the heavily painted lips. Sybil.

"Hello, Elena," Sybil said with a small smirk. "I'm sorry that I couldn't have come before. I was a little tied up at the moment. How are you feeling love?"

"Sybil," Elena struggled with the ropes, but they were almost too tight. Tight enough that they seemed to have cut off her circulation. "What the hell are you doing here? Did you do this to me?"

"No," Sybil admitted. "But the person who did this is here. Brian, would you come out please?"

Elena saw a tall man that she didn't recognize enter the room. "Hello, Mrs. Salvatore."

Elena blinked confused as she turned from Sybil to Brian. "I don't understand, what-"

"Let me explain this to you, slowly Elena so that your small bird brain understands," Sybil said in a condescending tone. "This is Brian Richardson. I believe that you have meet and talked with his wife, Mrs. Richardson."

"I did," Elena gulped. "Wait, are you her husband?"

"The one and only," Brian said as he leaned forward so that he could face her. "And you must be the bitch that convinced my lovely wife to leave me. Thanks to you she is now lying down in a pool of her own blood."

"You killed her? I thought you loved her, why would you kill her?"

"Love makes you do strange things, Mrs. Salvatore. All I know is that the love of my life wouldn't have left me if it hadn't been for you. She had to pay as with you."

Elena turned to Sybil. "Sybil, please you need to get me out of here. Do not listen to him, get Damon call-"

"Elena, shut up. I am sick of hearing your whiny little voice. Don't you get it by now, Damon is not here to save you. Poor Elena, she always had prince charming to save her. It doesn't look that way now, does it?"

"I don't need a prince charming to save me," Elena shot back. "What the hell is wrong with you Sybil? Are you teaming up with this man because Damon wouldn't give you the time of day after you cheated on him?"

Sybil flushed. "Well, it seems that Brian and I have something in common we both utterly despise you. But we already dealt with one gruesome death and we don't really care about disposing of another body, so lucky for you and your loved ones, your death will not be messy."

"What?!"

"We are leaving you to starve you stupid girl," Brian said impatiently. "And by the looks of this weather freeze to death."

"Goodbye, Elena." Sybil said. "You might want to start saying your prayers."

* * *

Where was she? It was almost ten o clock and Elena should have been home by now. The meal that Damon had prepared had long since gone cold, but he hadn't phoned to contact her, because he though she must be talking with her parents, but talking didn't take that much.

He grabbed his phone and started dialing Elena's cell phone number. When no one answered he called Elena's home phone instead. Miranda answered. "Elena, is that you?"

"No, Mrs. Gilbert. It's me Damon." Damon cleared his throat. He felt awkward. He didn't know how Elena's mother felt about him yet especially after the whole incident. "I've been trying to reach Elena and she's not answering her phone, we were supposed to meet hours ago, but she didn't come. I was wondering if you have seen her."

"No Damon, we haven't. My husband and I are starting to get worried, usually Elena always texts us, but this time she didn't. She's usually not this quiet and I have no idea where she is."

Damon tried not to panic. He hadn't said anything to freak her out, had he? "I'll try to figure out where she is Mrs. Gilbert. She is probably with her friends and lost track of time."

Damon spend the next half hour calling everyone Elena knew, which wasn't much since Elena was shy and not a particular social person. He checked with the neighbors, with Caroline, Lexi, Stefan, his cousins, Katherine, his mother, even with Bonnie who was away in med school, but neither of them had talked or seen her in hours.

By 10:45 pm, Damon was starting to grow worried and the image of Elena lying in a ditch somewhere was alarmingly clear. He decided to get into his car and search for her. The problem was that the places that Elena usually went to were already closed.

Damon tried Elena's phone again and it went straight to voicemail. "Damn it, Elena. Answer me." He tried calling her again, but no answer. Despite his better judgement he parked in front of The Grill. He needed a drink.

"Bourbon. Double." He snapped at the sleepy looking bartender. He waited impatiently for his drink.

". . .how long do you think-"

"Hard to say. A couple of days. A week at the most, with her delicate condition it shouldn't be hard."

"I'm serious Brian, she needs to be dead dead."

"She will be sweets."

Damon turned around when he heard the familiar voice. He saw Sybil and an unknown man at the end of the bar.

-End of Chapter Thirty-Four-


	36. PART THIRTY-FIVE

**PART THIRTY-FIVE**

Sybil and the man hadn't noticed Damon, which Damon was grateful for especially since Sybil kept looking around like a crazy person. This was the second time that Damon had seen Sybil look so nervous. The first time had been when she had lost an expensive pair of earrings.

But from the looks of it, this time Sybil wasn't nervous about a pair of earrings. She was nervous about something else. It was during these times that Damon wished that he had some kind of super hearing.

The man next to Sybil look agitated and he seemed to be a few years older than Damon. Damon studied him and Sybil, if he wasn't feeling so disgusted, he would have though they made a handsome couple.

"What if the corpse is traced back to us," Sybil hissed loudly under her breath as she sipped on her Tequila sunrise. "Or what if she is still alive or what if-"

"Will you shut up," the man hissed. "The only thing that is going to ruin us is your stupid mouth, so do me a favor and stop talking. I know what I'm doing. They believed that my wife was killed by an intruder, am I right?"

Sybil looked like she wanted to argue, but for once she closed her mouth, but she still looked generally unhappy. The man left a few dollars bills on the counter and Damon pretended to be interested in eating the peanuts they always put in front of customers.

"Will you relax, Sybil everything will be fine. With this weather she will be dead soon enough. After this you and I will burn her body and all trace of evidence or DNA will be completely gone and it will be like none of this has happened. Now get some good nigh sleep, I will talk to you in the morning."

Damon watched as the man left and Sybil stayed at the bar drinking her tequila sunrise. She looked uncomfortable and scared. Damon had only seen her like that when he found out that she was cheating on him with Mason.

Damon had no idea who they were talking about, but was not comfortable with the "her" that they kept mentioning. He waiting until Sybil left a twenty dollar bill and started heading outside.

Sybil walked toward her car, a cute little mini cooper and she was opening her car door when Damon practically slammed it down to prevent her from opening the door. She jumped slightly. "Damon, what are you-"

"We need to talk." Damon said with a raised eyebrow. "Let's go, Sybil now."

* * *

Elena let out a sneeze as she shivered. It was cold. It was so damn cold. It wasn't even midnight yet and Elena knew it was just going to get colder as soon as dawn approached. Her baby seemed to shift inside her belly in nervousness and if Elena wasn't tied up at the moment she would have a pressed a hand on her belly to comfort her unborn child.

However, she was currently tied up and Elena had been trying to undo the knots for 45 minutes with little success. It seemed to grow even colder with each passing minute and Elena's whole body felt numb.

Don't fall asleep, she told herself as she repeated the mantra. If she felt asleep, she was a goner. At least she had read that in a book once, if she fell asleep when the temperatures were freezing cold she would never wake up.

Elena didn't know if that was true or not, but she didn't want to run the risk of it being true. Why would Sybil and Brian do this? It seemed like a such a silly reason, to get revenge on Damon and Brian's wife.

She thought about Damon, how before they got into this marriage of convenience the only time that he talked to her was when he ordered coffee. How times have change. Elena knew she sounded like a little old lady talking like this, but times had changed.

When she had still worked as Damon's secretary, she had thought that he was a real jerk. Now he knew how sweet and caring he could be. Damon. Elena couldn't believe that Damon now meant so much to her especially since they had been acting like cats and dogs before.

Elena's eyes welled up. What if no one found her? What if she died? What if no one found her body? She couldn't put her family through that. Elena tried to stir again, but the ropes around her arms and legs seemed to cut off her circulation.

She hobbled around like a turtle for fifteen minutes. The exit. She had to get to the exit. She knew that the door was locked, but if she could at least make it to the door then she could scream. Sybil and Brian had said that they left her in the middle of nowhere, but she still had to try. Maybe if she screamed hard enough.

With an air of determination, she forced herself to drag herself through the cold dirt floor towards the exit. She spit out a small amount of dirt that landed on her mouth. Her knees felt sore, but she continued trudging along.

By some miracle she managed to reach the door, she saw the shiny bright lock. Elena held her breath. "Help! Anybody help! Please!"

* * *

"Any word on Elena?" Stefan asked as he entered Katherine and Elijah's lavish home. Elijah was smoking a cigar and Katherine was on the couch playing with baby Nadia and cooing something to her in her native language.

Lexi and Caroline were playing a game of cards by the parlor. Apparently, all tensions between the two girls had loosened up and they could at the very least manage to be civil.

Katherine looked up and took a sip of her wine. "I personally think that all of you are exaggerating just a wee bit. Elena has only been gone for a few hours. Maybe she went to the spa. When I was pregnant my feet got so swollen I could barely walk."

"I don't think so," Caroline bit her lip. "I know Elena and she would never go anywhere without telling anyone first." Katherine looked doubtful, but didn't elaborate.

"Wherever she is I'm sure Damon will find her," Lexi put down a card. "Damon has an Elena radar built in him or something. If someone is going to find her, it's going to be him."

Elijah put down his cigar. "Well, let's just hope it was a mistake and nothing else."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Sybil demanded after a while. She and Damon had been driving away from Mystic Falls for the last 30 minutes and Damon still hadn't told her where they were going. "Damon, you have to tell me where you are taking me."

"I think it's time that you start talking Sybil," he said. "You're hiding something. I saw you at the bar. You looked nervous."

"You have no idea what-"

"You look nervous. You're talking with a strange man that I have never seen before and Elena is missing. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. You had something to do with it, didn't you Sybil?"

Sybil didn't say anything.

"You can either tell me or we can get the police involved." Damon tried not to show his frustration. "The choice is yours Sybil."

-End of Chapter Thirty-Five-


	37. PART THIRTY SIX

**PART THIRTY-SIX**

Sybil didn't say anything for over fifteen minutes and Damon grew so frustrated that he almost pulled out his own silky black hair. Sybil could be stubborn, Damon knew that. When they had been dating he had found it ridiculously hot, but now he found it incredibly annoying and the only thing that he wanted to do was tear her pretty, perfect face.

Damon supposed that he could take Sybil back to Mystic Falls police and let them do their thing, but that could take hours and Damon would rather take care of it himself in his own rough way. Even if it meant dealing with Sybil by force.

He didn't go back to the police station instead he drove around in circles until Sybil finally broke. "Ok, I'll tell you. Stop the car. You're making me dizzy." Damon did as he was told and Sybil grabbed a bottle of whisky that she knew that Damon had hid in the glove compartment. He had used that same trick since high school.

She took a shot of whisky as she looked at him. Sybil looked hungover. Desperate. It was not a good look on her. Which meant that she was in her breaking point. She rested her hand over her chin as she looked at him. "You really love her, don't you? What is so great about Elena, she is average looking at best."

"No, she is beautiful." Damon heard himself saying. "And a kind and generous human being. She is far too good for me, Sybil. Far too good for this world. Now where is she Sybil? I know that you know something. I also know that you didn't do it alone."

Sybil took another shot of whisky. "If I tell you, you need to promise me that I won't go down."

"I promise. Now tell me where is Elena? Who took her?"

Sybil laughed. "It's right under your nose, I can't believe you haven't seen it before. The husband of your brother's client helped me."

It took Damon a moment to remember a mousy women with fading bruises on her face that had been his brother's pet case. "What does Elena have to do with her? She didn't even know her."

Sybil pursed her lips. "Then this shows how much you really know her. Elena treated that woman like her charity case. She convinced that woman to divorced him and Brian rarely likes being told what he can or can't do. So he decided to take revenge on both."

"On Elena and his wife?" It was so incredibly stupid and petty and downright idiotic. Who got that way over a divorce? It wasn't like Elena had magically divorced him and his wife, yet by the looks of it he was blaming her for everything.

"His wife is dead," Sybil said simply. The confession was coming out faster like an incoming train. Her words honeyed like sweet syrup. "He killed her."

Damon felt his palms become sweaty as he gripped the steering wheel. "And Elena?"

Sybil didn't respond and Damon drove faster.

* * *

Cold. Numb. Frozen. That was the extent of Elena's feelings and she could barely move. Her fingers were so numb that they hurt and she could almost swear that her lips and fingers were becoming purple with cold.

She rested her head against the wall. She had managed to crawl across the barn, but she had managed to just stop there. Her ankles and wrists were still tightly tied together and her lower back ached. She whimpered. At this point she would do anything to be back home. Back home with Damon.

She let out a small laugh. She never thought back when she was Damon's secretary that she would seek him out for comfort. Elena slumped next to the door handle. She was tired, tired of fighting and she could feel her wrists becoming numb with pain.

Elena wondered if she would die here. She didn't think it was a bad place to die per say, but she had always thought that she would die in her home an old lady surrounded by loved ones. Not in an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

Her brown eyes shot open, no she couldn't just go willingly into that dark night. Her son, she needed to think about her son. If Elena had to fight for anyone it should be her son. She forced her eyes to remain open. She had read once that if she closed them she was a goner. That was for sure.

For what seemed like hours, Elena did what she could to stay awake, she pinched herself, she sang old country songs that her dad loved, she thought about the hundred of baby names in her head. She kind of like the name Seth for a boy.

But her eyes eventually became droopy and her hands felt like they were frozen.

". . .lena. Elena, wake up." Someone was slapping her face. Not hard, but even though they were trying to be gentle it still hurt. "Elena, wake up please. Wake up, sweetheart."

Her eyes shot open until she saw the blue eyes that belonged to Damon. To her husband. His eyebrows were furrowed as he search her entire body and surroundings. He compulsively rubbed her shoulders and Elena had not noticed that he had draped his prized leather jacket over her.

Elena could briefly hear the sounds of police sirens in the distance. "Damon." She choked out as best as she could because her teeth were chattering. "You came back. You came back for me."

Damon threw her that crooked smile he knew that she loved so much, but it seemed different this time. Nervous and anxious. Elena had only seen him like that a handful of times and only near a court date.

"Up, up, up." He told her as he gently helped her up. She wobbled a bit thanks to her confusion and her half frozen legs, but Damon held her by the waist. Damon pulled her to his chest as he buried his face in her long brown hair. "I was so worried about you, Elena."

* * *

"You can't see her." Stefan was giving him that smug, holier than thou attitude that made Damon want to punch him in the face. They were standing in the middle of Mystic Falls Hospital.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Katherine of all people, helping Miranda and Grayson cope with the idea that their daughter had almost been murdered. She was showing off Nadia which seemed to ease off the tensions a bit.

The place was crawling with police officers which made Damon's skin crawl. He wished that everyone would leave so that he could be alone with Elena. "And why can't I be alone with my wife?"

"Because the police need to question you," Stefan said simply. "And the faster that you answer their questions, the faster that Sybil and her accomplice will go to jail, and then you and Elena can have all the time in the world to make up for lost time."

-End of Chapter Thirty-Six-

Thank you very much for your support!


	38. PART THIRTY SEVEN

**PART THIRTY-SEVEN**

Elena felt warm and after hours of feeling like she was freezing to death, the warmth was welcoming. Her eyes were flickering slightly when she felt something bright shine against her face.

"Elena. . .'lena." Someone was calling her by her name. A masculine voice. "Elena, honey can you hear me?"

Elena forced herself to wake up even though every cell of her body was begging her for more sleep. Someone was caressing her hand as they squeezed it. Her brown eyes flickered, and Elena found herself lying down in a small, hospital room being covered by blankets.

Damon was staring at her with concern, his blue eyes flickering as he continued caressing Elena's hand as if thinking that if he stopped Elena would disappear if he stopped caressing her hand.

"Damon," she choked out and her breath became shallow. Her heart started beating at rapid speed so much that the heart machine next to her started beeping uncontrollably. Damon started panicking slightly when he heard the heart monitor.

He started squeezing her hand. "Easy, Elena. Easy you need to relax or the nurse with the unibrow is going to kick me out. Again." Elena forced herself to relax which wasn't easy especially when she was staring at Damon's anxious face.

Instead she focused on her surroundings. The room was adorned in a warm, pink light and there were fresh flowers and huge Get Well Soon balloons that had Caroline written all over it.

"How long was I-you know out?" Elena inquired. She felt like she had been sleeping for a thousand years.

"Five days." Damon responded. "You had hyperthermia because you spent hours out there in the cold and you're pregnant so not all antibiotics were safe, so they had to figure things out to how they were in the stone age-"

"But I'm better now right?" she inquired nervously as she touched her belly "And the baby is fine too?" The idea that her son had been hurt because of that bitch send shivers down her spine.

"Our son is completely fine." Damon soothed her. "He's a trooper. I was more worried about you, when I saw you, you look-" he didn't want to use the word dead, but that's what he meant. Elena bit her lip. "How are you? How are you feeling? The doctors weren't sure since we had to take the slowpoke way out."

"I feel fine," Elena said, the medicine that they had given her was making her slightly dizzy and exhausted, but she guessed that the fact that she had been unconscious for the past five days, had had something to do with that. "Tired, but fine."

There was an awkward silence and Elena paused. "Do you know everything that happened? With Sybil and Mrs. Richardson? I can't believe that she's dead."

"Psychopath with psychopath. You know what they say birds of a feather flock together. Sybil confessed to everything. As soon as the police arrived she was putty in their hands." Damon threw a wicked grin towards her. "Last I heard they are both being charged for two counts of attempted murder. Your life and the life of our unborn child."

"So," Elena for the first time since she had woken up felt like smiling. "We are in the clear."

Damon nodded as he learned over and kissed her. "We're finally safe Elena."

* * *

"We need to throw you a baby shower." Katherine said as he rocked Nadia to sleep. Katherine wrinkled her nose at all the balloons and at Caroline who was fussing with Elena's pillows. "You're about to pop and the least that you deserve after everything is a decent baby shower where there are no murderers hanging in the bushes."

Bonnie and Lexi were helping Elena pack her clothes into the new Louis Vuitton suitcases that Rebekah had brought before heading to a meeting. If everything went well, Elena would be heading home tomorrow after spending a week in the hospital.

Lily of all people had arranged for a nurse to take care of Elena over the next few days so that she could go home earlier instead of being stuck in the hospital room. Lily and Elena had, had a brief conversation about how she was glad that Elena was alive and Sybil was in jail. It wasn't much of a conversation, but Lily wasn't exactly a warm person to begin with.

"Katherine is right," Bonnie said as she squeezed Elena's hand. She had taken a few days off from medical school so that she could visit Elena. "I would love to attend your baby shower before I have to return to medical school. If you're up to it, maybe we could plan it for this weekend. Hopefully you're feeling better by then."

Elena nodded. "How have things been in town? They must be buzzing with gossip."

Lexi nodded. "The first few days there were news vans all over the hospital until Stefan and Damon threatened to sue them." Lexi shook her head. "Sybil and I went to the same high school. I knew that she was crazy, but not this type of crazy."

Katherine snorted. "I'm more concerned that she has been obsessed over Damon for so long." She looked at Elena. "No offense."

"I think we should stop talking about Sybil and that whole mess," Caroline fluffed her pillows for the twentieth time. Elena would have been annoyed if Caroline wasn't being so sweet. "We should start planning your baby shower so that we can have everything ready for this weekend. Who do you want to invite?"

Elena shrugged as she started braiding her hair. "Well, you guys and my mom and Mrs. Salvatore. I don't want a huge party. Just something small. Believe me I have had enough excitement to last a lifetime."

* * *

"Are you ready?" Damon asked as Elena stood in the middle of the hospital room. She looked around, hoping that she hadn't missed anything. She nodded as she grabbed her purse. Elena couldn't wait to go home, she was sick of eating hospital food.

"Damon." She hesitated, hating herself for ruining the mood. "Sybil. . .is Sybil in jail?"

Damon nodded. "She won't bother us again, Elena. Of that I can assure you, her ass is rotting in jail." From what Stefan guesses she would be spending at least half a century in jail.

Elena sighed as her shoulders relaxed. She leaned forward and squeezed his hand.

"I love you, Elena." Damon blurted out. "I know that I don't say it enough, but I love you."

Elena felt the warmth rise up in her chest. "I don't say it a lot either, but I can't imagine my life without you either Damon."

-End of Chapter Thirty-Seven-

Thank you so much for your patience and for your kind reviews! Marriage of Convenience will have a few more chapters than the original 40 chapters planned. Thank you!


	39. PART THIRTY EIGHT

**PART THIRTY-EIGHT**

Everywhere that Elena turned to she saw blue. Blue ballons, blue streamers, and white storks carrying a baby in a blue blanket. Elena was surprised by how fast Caroline and Bonnie had put the intimate baby shower together in Lily's backyard. Though Elena shouldn't be too surprised. After all it was Caroline that they were talking about. The girl had always been bossy. In a good way.

It had been two days since Elena had left the hospital. She was just glad that her and her baby were ok. The doctors had just suggested bed rest and medicine so that her time spent in the barn didn't turn into pneumonia.

Though by the way that Damon was acting around her, he was making it seem like Elena had survived a full on head collision. His overprotectiveness at first had been cute, but cute had turned into annoying really fast. The only reason that he was even allowing her to have this baby shower in the first place was because Lily and Rebekah had basically tore his head off.

Elena had to reassure him that everything would be all right and that she would mostly be sitting down opening presents and eating cake. It was a small baby shower with only Rebekah, Lexi, Caroline, Bonnie, Katherine, Miranda, Lily, and a couple of Elena's high school friends in attendance.

"I can't believe all the shit that has happened and the baby is not even born yet," Rebekah said as she shoved the piece of strawberry cake in her mouth.

"Rebekah," Caroline scolded as she pointed to the almost six month old Nadia who was sleeping in her stroller. "There are children present."

"So?" Bekah said with a tiny eye roll. "That child can't even talk yet."

Elena smiled and Caroline turned to her and winked. "And you Mrs. Salvatore what are you so happy about?"

Elena smiled as she leaned back. "I just never thought that my life would turn out like this."

"Which part? The marrying Damon Salvatore part or the almost being killed by his ex girlfriend part?" Bonnie said with a small snort. The women laugh.

"Never say never," Katherine said as she took a sip of her martini. "I never thought I would end up with Elijah when we first got set on that blind date and here we are years later married and with a daughter together."

Lexi leaned back. "Well, life seems to have a funny way of working out. Everything seems to fall into place."

Rebekah snorted. "Not my life, I haven't had a date with a cute girl to save my life."

Caroline laughed. "I'm sure that you will find the girl of your dreams. You should try online dating."

"Oh, I'm not going through that dark and depressing hole again."

Lily smiled as she raised her glass. "Well, although all beginnings are never perfect we have to admit that all endings eventually are. To Elena and to her future family."

"To Elena." They raised their glasses and Elena felt so happy, she felt that she could burst. Elena promised to open presents as soon as she came from the bathroom because a tiny baby was currently pressing on her bladder rather painfully.

She was barely entering the living room when she ran head first into Stefan. Him and Damon were having a "guy's day" in their old playroom while they waited for the baby shower to end.

"Elena," Stefan stuffed his hand in his pockets. "Having fun?"

Elena nodded. "It seems that you have something to tell me. What is it?"

Stefan bit his bottom lip. "Well, Damon didn't want me to tell you, but I feel that you should enter that courtroom with some idea what is going on. The judge has settled a date for the trial. It will be a month from now. Technically, you do not have to be present if you don't want to. They know that you've been through enough, but it is highly recommended especially since Sybil had a personal vendetta against you."

She nodded. "I understand. Damon doesn't want me to be a part of the trial, but I want too after everything she did to me."

Stefan nodded, understanding her reaction. "Well, you have every right to come to the trial. I just wanted you to be aware so that you are not surprised the day of the trial. If you do show up it is likely that they will ask you to be a part of it. You may have to go on stand and answer some questions even though the police already questioned you."

Elena sighed and agreed, the last thing that she wanted to do was to be put in front of the stand for everyone to see. "Got it. Thank you for letting me know Stefan, I appreciate it."

Stefan kissed her on the cheek. "You're welcome. Enjoy your party, Elena."

* * *

"Did you enjoy your party?" Damon asked as he gave Elena a slight kiss on the side of her forehead. Damon was helping her put away the dishes while Lily barked orders to the cleaning crew outside.

Elena nodded, she was so stuffed she couldn't eat another bite. "Stefan, told me about the trial." She paused. "It would have been nice to hear it from you."

Damon took a deep breath. "I didn't want you to worry, you have enough on your mind right now."

Elena sighed. "I'm not going to rest until Sybil is behind bars, so please in the meantime if you find out anything else, please let me know."

"I will," Damon said as he rested his hand on her belly. "Now do you have others news that is not depressing."

She grinned at him. "I do actually. I found out after we had our fight and then the whole thing with Sybil happened, but I've been nominated for a blogger award-best newcomer. The committee is called The Pen, and I know that it's a long shot and that I shouldn't get my hopes up-"

"A nomination? Elena, that's wonderful news," Elena giggled as he spinned her around, or tried to since she was so heavy. "Congratulations."

"Thank you. I'm just glad that we have received good news after you know everything."

* * *

Elena took a sip of herb tea as she looked at her computer screen working on her post: _One is Silver, The Other Gold-How your past self and your future self don't have to be enemies._

* * *

"Thank you for letting the girls host the baby shower here," Damon told Lily as he put the dishes away. "It was unusually generous of you."

Lily threw him an eye roll. "It was the least that I can do after everything that poor girl has been through. Though I'm glad that I have you alone now because I have something to ask you. Have you thought about it? The year is almost up."

Damon looked confused and Lily elaborated. "Have you thought about your marriage, Damon? This marriage of convenience was only for a year after all. What are you and Elena planning to do?"

-End of Chapter Thirty-Eight-


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